LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 






i 



UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. ! 



THE LAWS AND PRACTICE 

OF THE 

GAME OF EUCHRE. 

As adopted by the Washington, J), ft, Euchre Club. 
BY A PKOFESSOK. 

ONE OP THE OLDEST AND MOST NOTED EUCHRE PLAYERS IN THE UNITED 
STATES, AND A MEMBER OP THE WASHINGTON EUCHRE CLUB. 

TO WHICH IS ADDED THE 

RULES FOR PLAYING "DRAW POKER." 



f ; 



PHILADELPHIA 
T. B. PETERSON & BROTHERS. 

1877. 



&VI249 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1877, by 

T. B. PETERSON & BROTHERS, 

In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D. C. 



PREFACE. 



No sedentary game is more popular, or 
so generally played for amusement in do- 
mestic circles, throughout the wide spread 
"eminent demesne" of the United States, 
as Euchre — the Queen of all card-games; 
and but few, we regret to say it, possess 
less printed authoritative reference for con- 
sultation. Hence difficulties, doubts, differ- 
ences of opinion, and local customs of play, 
exercise an irksome influence even among 
skillful players, and solely for the want of 
some proper compendium of the laws and 
of the correct practice of the game. To 
supply this deficiency, in an humble way, 
the ensuing pages, sanctioned by "very 
noble and approved good masters," are ten- 
derly tendered. 

THE AUTHOR. 
Washington, D. C. 



CONTENTS. 

— *** 

GAME OF EUCHRE. 

CHAPTER I. 
Preliminary 23 

CHAPTER II. 
Mode of Playing 35 

CHAPTER III. 
On Playing Alone 44 

CHAPTER IV. 
Lap, Slam, Jambone, and Jamboree.. — 59 

CHAPTER V. 
Technicalities 78 

CHAPTER VI. 
Laws of the Game 88 

CHAPTER VII. 
Hints to Tyros 105 

RULES FOR PLAYING DRAW POKER. 

The Deal and Dealing of the Cards.. .135 

Every Player for Himself 138 

Drawing of Cards 140 

Relative Value of Hands in their 

Order, Beginning with the Best 142 

(21) 



EUCHRE. 



CHAPTEE I. 

PRELIMINARY. 



11 Four knaves in garbs succinct, a trusty band, 
Caps on their beads, and balberts in tbeir band ; 
And party-color'd troops, a shining train, 
Drawn forth to combat on the velvet plain.' ' — Pope, 



Those clever fellows, who, in social circles, 
or at the club, resort to the exciting combi- 
nations exhibited by 

*" The painted tablets, dealt and dealt again" — 

recreation and amusement being their only 
aim — accredit Euchre, par excellence, the 
most entertaining and fascinating of all the* 
games of cards yet invented. 

(23) 



24 EUCHRE. 

The earliest knowledge which we, person- 
ally, have been able to gather of this our 
favorite card-game, was its introduction in 
the Metropolis of the Union, in the days — 
" those days are passed, Floranthe" — of Gen- 
eral Jackson's first presidential term, by an 
ardent and slightly illiterate admirer of the 
General's — an Honorable M. C, from the 
Tennessee State — who was wont emphatically 
to pronounce it the " hazardestest game on 
the keards;" though the game had been 
played, long prior to that period, in every 
inhabited township plat of the northwestern 
territory, and on every raft and steamboat 
afloat upon the exulting waters of the Mis- 
sissippi Eiver. 

There exists a legend ascribing its inven- 
tion to two Friars, "of orders gray," who 
had been imprisoned for some improper prac- 
tice, or other malversation., and who are said 
to have invented the game to while away the 
tedious hours of incarceration ; but the story 
is rather apocryphal. 

It is also narrated that the game sprang 



PRELIMINARY. 25 

like Venus, from the sea, — that it is the re- 
sult of a sailorman's ingenuity, Jack revers- 
ing the usual order of things on shipboard 
by placing his namesakes in command, and 
giving them the appropriate nautical appel- 
lations of Eight-Bower, and Left-Bower, 
in compliment to the main anchors of the 
ship. 

The origin of the game — generally ad- 
mitted to be German — is not satisfactorily 
explained, and no mention whatever is made 
of it in the curious and elaborate treatise by 
S. W. Singer, entitled Eesearches into the 
History of Playing Cards, 4to., London, 1816 ; 
nor in any of the English editions of Hoyle's 
Games; nor in Captain Crawley's Handy 
Book of Games for Gentlemen, 12mo., London, 
1860. The French are equally silent. No 
notice of the game is to be found in the long 
and learned array of articles on the various 
games of cards — and their name is legion — 
in the extended Dictionnaire des Jeux of the 
Encyclopedia Methodique ; and M. Van-Tenac, 
in his Album des Jeux, 12mo., Paris, 1847 



26 EUCHRE. 

a recent and careful collection of modern 
games of cards, seems entirely ignorant of 
its existence, 

We have just learned under date of Paris 
December 8, 1861, from a distinguished 
French savant, now engaged in collecting 
materials for an elaborate and scientific trea- 
tise on card-games, that Euchre is not of 
French origin, and that the game is not no- 
ticed by any French writer on games. 

In this country the only teaching we have 
of the game — except a few paragraphs in the 
late American editions of Hoyle's Games, 
and of Bohn's New Hand-Book of Games — 
is contained in The Game of Euchre ; with its 
Laws, 32mo., Philadelphia, 1850, pp. 32, 
attributed to a late learned jurist — a our illus- 
trious predecessor" — and to which little vol- 
ume we hereby acknowledge ourselves greatly 
indebted. 

The name itself even — Euchre — is a mys- 
tery. Although the game is generally sup- 
posed, in this country, to be of German in- 
vention, yet we are informed by the most 



PRELIMINARY. 27 

eminent linguist in Germany, Professor 
Grimm, of the University of Berlin, that 
Euchre is not a German word, and has no 
sound of the language. 

It has been facetiously suggested that it 
might possibly be the German for Eureka ! 
denoting that the Queen game of cards has 
at last been found ! But, as we do not pro- 
fess to especial erudition in the Teutonic lin- 
guistics, we venture no opinion of its philo- 
logical deduction. Nor can we trace the least 
analogy or affinity, as regards the promotion 
of the Knaves into the rank of commanding 
cards, when of the suit, or color, of the 
trump, to any other card-game. In some 
few particulars, however, it bears quite a 
resemblance to the game of Ecarte. How 
so animated and bright a game ever sprang 
from the brain of a phlegmatic German is 
somewhat marvellous — unless, it may have 
been invented by that identical Baron, portly 
and solid like the rest of them, who was 
making the most terrible racket in his soli- 
tary apartment, in Paris, one morning, jump- 



28 EUCHRE. 

ing over stools and slippers, and other u anti- 
altitudinous" articles, and whose noted reply 
to the agitated and expostulating gargon, 
was, JTapprends a etre vxf. He may have sue* 
eeeded in attaining the lively ! 

Whatever its origin, Euchre appears to 
have been introduced into the United States 
by the German settlers of Pennsylvania, and 
from that State gradually to have been disse- 
minated throughout every State of the Union. 
But the original game has been so much 
improved by the variations and additions 
bestowed upon it in consequence of its great 
popularity with all classes in this country, 
that it may now fairly be denominated one of 
our peculiar American institutions. A squat 
ter, in the "Land of the West," would con 
sicler his education sadly neglected, now-a 
days, if a knowledge of this game was not 
one of his attainments ; — it is as necessary to 
his enjoyment of life as a stone-jug of 
"Bourbon, 7 ' with a corn-cob "cork" — the 
11 democratic decanter," as they call it. 

The word Bauer, the German for Jack, 01 



PRELIMINAEY. 29 

Knave, Americanized to Bower, is said to 
be the only term used in the game which 
has been adopted from the German. 

Whist — and here let us pause with reve- 
rence — "not that I loved Caesar less, but 
that I loved Eome more" — Whist, we re- 
sume, since Hoyle perfected its invention, 
and published his treatise on the game, about 
one hundred and twenty years ago, has been 
universally acknowledged to be the noblest 
game played with cards. As twenty more 
cards are involved in its play than at Euchre, 
and every one of them delivered in each 
deal, the game is undoubtedly more exact 
and mathematical. We fancy, however, that 
it is this very absence of mathematical accu- 
racy which is one of the peculiar merits of 
our game ; for nearly one-third of the Euchre 
pack is not distributed in the deal, but 
remains in the talon; thus adding to the 
variety and the chances of the play, and 
affording exciting combinations for the exer- 
cise of the shrewd player's judgment. But 
we are free to confess that, in nearly a quar- 



30 EUCHRE. 

ter of a century's addiction to Euchre — viginti 
annorum lucuhmtiones — we have never met a 
fine player of both games who did not much 
prefer our pet game. 

"We repeat, then, that accomplished adepts 
at both games — those social spirits who make 
of play a delassement, and not a laborious 
speculation — greatly prefer Euchre, because 
of the more sprightly character of the game, 
and its less mathematical exactness — giving 
more scope to chance and judgment, and 
affording a much keener enjoyment. And 
then consider, that during the entire play of 
all the thirteen tricks at Whist, the most 
lugubrious silence, which is not our grand 
talent, must prevail — for we can only " speak 
by the card" — and, indeed, it has become an 
axiom of that game, that whoever approxi- 
mates nearest to being dumb may be deemed 
the best player! At Euchre, on the con- 
trary, every deal of five cards a- piece only — 

" Oph. 'Tis brief, my Lord ; 
Ham. As woman's love ;" — 

is played out, dashingly, in a few minutes, 



PRELIMINARY. 31 

affording opportunities to discuss the general 
topics of the day, for lively repartee and 
anecdotes — those gems of conversation — 
while the contrasts of chagrin and joy pre- 
sented by unlooked-for defeat or success, so 
often recurring in the various vicissitudes of 
play, " serve to set the table on a roar." 
Such a seance will frequently glide away so 
delectably as to inoculate pale melancholy 
with the bud of mirth. 

In a transit of the Atlantic, or a voyage 
to the Indies, which " drags its slow length 
along" — especially when not sea-sick — Whist 
naturally presents peculiar advantages to 
those whose " only labor is to kill the time, 
and labor dire it is," says the poet. But, if 
one desires to amuse and tickle oneself — 
•'when sailing o'er life's troubled main" — for 
the limited period of eight or ten hours only, 
in the pleasant occupation of disclosing the 
mysterious combinations produced by thirty- 
two cards — seasoned with cheerful conversa- 
tion and innocent mirth the while, we com- 
mend him to Euchre. 



32 EUCHRE. 

Euchre may be likened to that refined and 
seductive beverage.. Champagne wine — spark- 
ling and bright — while Whist more resem- 
bles the potent, heady tipple, the Brown-stout 
of its native England. 

Of all sedentary amusements — except a 
fourth class clerkship in the Treasury De- 
partment — ice most '' affectionate"' Euchre. 

But. repawns a .s. The game of 

Euchre is played with thirty-two cards — the 
six. five, four, tray, and deuce of each suit 
having been withdrawn from a "Whist or 
whole pack. The tray and deuce of spades 
and diamonds, of the refuse cards, are ordi- 
narily used for the purpose of counting the 
game. Recently, however, packs are ex- 
pressly manufactured for this game, (as well 
as for Picquet and Ecar:£, also played with 
the same number of cards.) by M. De la Rue, 
the eminent publisher of playing cards in 
London, and they may readily be obtained in 
all of our larger cities. 

The Knave of trumps, the Right-Bower as 
it is termed, is the highest or be** trump ; 



PRELIMINARY. 33 

and the other Knave of the same color, 
termed the Left Bower, is the next highest 
card. The remaining cards, including the 
Knaves of the black, suits when a red suit is 
trump, and vice versa, have the same relative 
value as at Whist. 

It is usual to play with two packs, distin- 
guished by backs of different colors, and the 
pack selected by each party at the commence- 
ment of a game, should not be changed dur- 
ing the play of that game. 

Various customs of play prevail in differ- 
ent coteries and clubs, but the compiler has 
endeavored to follow those customs which are 
most in vogue, and are most consistent with 
the spirit of the game, and the chances on 
the cards. 

There are, also, many varieties of the 
game, with the denominations of Ace-Euchre, 
Booster, Set-Back, Cut-Throat, and the like, 
and Euchre may be played by any number of 
persons, from two to six. But, the only game 
worthy of the scientific player is that which is 

played by four persons, who cut for partners, 
2 



34 BUCHBS. 

as at Whist, and it is to them that this Trea- 
tise is most affectionately dedicated. 

"Let not cards, therefore, be depreciated; 
a happy invention, which, adapted equally to 
every capacity, removes the invidious dis- 
tinctions of nature, bestows on fools the pre- 
eminence of genius, or reduces wit or wisdom 
to the level of folly." Henry's History of 
Great Britain, vol. 12, p. 385. 

Axiom. — If you are invited from home to 
assist at a Euchre party, and the tempestuous 
inclemency of the weather should be terrific, 
if your wife does not object too much, — go. 
Your failure "to be thar" may seriously in- 
convenience your friends. 



CHAPTER II. 

MODE OF PLAYING. 



"They know not when to play, where to play, noi 
what to play. — Middleton. 
a Who plays— who plays — who plays." — Old Play, 
"How absolute the Knave is !" — Shakspeare. 



The game of Euchre, which consists of five 
points only, is played by four persons, who 
cut for partners. It is the practice in some 
circles for the players to determine among 
themselves who shall be associated together 
as partners, and then to throw round, one 
card at a time to each player, for the first 
Knave, which gives the deal to the player to 
whom it is thrown ; but the more approved 
method is to cut for partners, the two highest 
becoming partners against the two lowest. 
He who cuts the lowest card wins the deal ; 
and, in cutting, the Ace is accounted the 
lowest, and the Knaves rank as at Whist. 

(35) 



86 EUCHRE. 

When the game is formed, and the players 
seated at the table, partners opposite to each 
other, so that each player is between his two 
adversaries, the player who has won the deal 
shuffles the pack and presents it to his right- 
hand adversary to cut. The dealer then 
places the cards lifted off by the cut at the 
bottom of the pack and distributes twenty 
cards, by giving five of them in two rounds, 
of two and three, or by three and two, to 
each player, beginning with his left-hand ad- 
versary, and then turns up the twenty -first 
card, which he places on the top of the talon, 
for the trump. 

The remaining cards of the pack, called the 
talon, or stock, he places on the table to his 
right. The deal passes in rotation as long as 
the parties continue to play. 

The dealer's left-hand adversary, who is 
termed the eldest-hand, then examines the 
cards dealt to him, and if he is of opinion 
that he can win three of the five tricks at 
the suit turned up for trumps, he says, "I 
order it up," and the card turned up by the 



MODE OF PLAYING. 37 

dealer then becomes the trump. But, if he 
thinks he cannot win three of the tricks, he 
simply says, " I pass." 

If he passes, the dealer's partner then ex- 
amines his cards, and if he believes that him< 
self and partner can win three tricks at the 
suit turned up, he says, "I will assist," and 
the turn-up card then also indicates the trump 
suit. But if he believes that himself and 
partner cannot win three tricks, he also says, 
"I pass." The third player, after looking 
at his cards, for the same reason that influ- 
enced his partner, either says, a I order it up," 
or, "I pass." 

If all the players have passed, the dealer 
then examines his hand, and if he is confident 
of winning three tricks by playing with his 
partner, he says, " I take it up." He then dis- 
cards the card of lowest value in his hand, 
and places it, face downwards, under the talon, 
and the turn-up card belongs to him in lieu 
of the one discarded. The dealer is always 
entitled to discard one card and take the turn- 
up, or trump card, into his hand, whether it 



88 EUCHRE. 

is ordered up by his antagonists, or lie is as- 
sisted by his partner, or takes it up himself. 
Should the dealer be doubtful of winning 
three tricks at the suit turned for trump, he 
says, "I turn it down," and immediately 
places the turn-up card, face down, on the 
talon. 

If all the players, including the dealer, de- 
cline to play at the suit turned up, the eldest- 
hand then has the privilege of making a 
trump, and, should his hand be sufficiently 
strong to win three tricks, he says, " I make 

it ," naming the suit he prefers, which 

then becomes the trump suit. If his cards 
are not strong enough to win three tricks, he 
says, " I pass the making." The second and 
third player in rotation, have the same privi- 
lege of naming a trump suit, and, after them, 
the dealer. But, if all the players, including 
the dealer, pass the making, the deal is for- 
feited, and belongs to the last dealer's left- 
hand adversary, who immediately gathers the 
cards for dealing. 

But, when the deal is completed, if the 



MODE OF PLAYING. 39 

eldest-hand, on first looking at his cards, be- 
lieves that his hand is strong enough to win 
three tricks if the suit turned up is trumps, he 
orders it up, which makes that the trump suit, 
and it must be played accordingly. The 
dealer then discards, and the play commences. 
The eldest-hand opens the game by leading in 
any suit he chooses, and all the other players 
follow to it, in regular order; and whoever 
plays the highest card wins the trick, which 
entitles him to the next lead. A player must 
always play a card of the suit led, if he holds 
one, on penalty of giving his adversaries two 
points for the revoke. But, if he has no card 
of the suit led, he can trump or not at his 
option. The player who has won the first 
trick then leads, and the play continues, in 
like manner, until the five cards in each hand 
are all played out. The trump, as at all other 
games, is the commanding suit, the lowest 
trump winning the highest cards of either of 
the other three suits. 

If the eldest-hand passed and the dealer's 
partner assisted, or if the dealer's partner 



40 EUCHBE. 

passed and the partner of the eldest-hand 
ordered it up, or if the latter having passed, 
the dealer takes up the trump, the mode of 
play is the same. 

If the player, who orders it up, and his 
partner, win three of the five tricks — the odd 
trick, as it is termed — they score one point to 
the game. K they win four of the five tricks 
they are also entitled to count one point only. 
But if they gain all five of the tricks, w^ 
is termed making a march, they score two 
points towards game. 

But if a trump is ordered up, or is taken 
up : or, if a trump is made by either player, 
and such player and his partner fail to win 
::::ir :r::ks. ::tt are Euch?.ii\ as i: :s tern:-::. 
which entitles their antagonists to add two 
points to the score of their game. And 
if one party win all five tricks when their op- 
ponents adopt or make a trump, which will 
rarely occur, except when the trump-car 
ordered up for the Bridge, — explained infra, — 
the winning party are only entitled to c 
for the Euchre, which is two points. 



MODE OF PLAYING. 41 

The eldest-hand, in leading, should placo 
his card on the table immediately before him, 
and each player, in rotation, should observe 
the same method — a practice which prevents 
any misunderstanding about the ownership of 
cards ; and, as no player has a right to ask 
who played any particular card, this practice 
also serves to designate each player's card by 
its position on the board. 

The tricks belonging to either party may 
be turned and collected by the player who 
wins the first trick, on either side ; but the 
^ better mode is to agree, at the commencement 
of the game, that one of the partners of op- 
posite sides shall gather all the tricks won by 
himself and partner, and shall also keep the 
score of the game. 

The five points constituting game are 
counted with the tray and deuce of the refuse 
cards, termed counters, which are placed at 
two diagonal corners of the table, and in 
such a manner as always to be in view, for 
no player should ask how the score of the 



42 EUCHRE. 

game stands, or call his partner's attention 
to it. 

The game is scored by placing the tray of 
the two counters, crosswise, with the face 
down, upon one half the face of the deuce, 
leaving only one of its pips exposed, for one 
point. To count two, the deuce is with- 
drawn from beneath the tray, upon which it 
is placed back to back. For three, both cards 
are turned over, exposing the face of the 
tray. Four is counted by removing the 
deuce from below the tray, and replacing it, 
lengthwise, half covered, with the face up. 
This arrangement of the position of the 
counters should always be adopted, for then 
no mistake in the count can occur — except, 
only, at the score of one — should the count- 
ers by accident be displaced on the table. 

The number of games won by each party 
may be reckoned with an ordinary four- 
bladed penknife, in this manner: a blade 
one-quarter open for one game; half open 
tor two games ; three-quarters open for three 
games; fully opened, for four games. The 



MODE OF PLAYING. 43 

second blade can reckon four more games, 
which will be eight — when you count them — 
and the entire four blades open will reckon 
as many as sixteen games. "Cut and come 
again." The knife may then be closed, if the 
players are lucky or skillful enough to con- 
tinue its use; and sixteen more, or forty- 
eight, or ad infinitum games may be reckoned 
on it. If this simple practice will not suit 
the fastidious, we will con-nive at any other 
method. 

The mode of playing is, at times, varied 
by one of the players announcing that he 
will Play Alone — a variation of such great 
interest and amusement — and peculiar, in 
many respects, to this game — that we respect 
fully beg leave to be permitted to treat the 
modus operandi somewhat at length in the 
ensuing Chapter. 



CHAPTER III. 

ON PLAYING ALONE. 



" Solitary and alone I set this ball in motion." 

Benton* 

" There's a game much in fashion— I think it's called 

Euchre, 
(Though I never have played it, for pleasure or 

lucre,) 
In which when the cards are in certain conditions, 
The players appear to have changed their positions,. 
And one of them cries in a confident tone, 
*I think I may venture to go it alone. 1 M — Saxe. 
" Alone I did it." — Shakspeare. 



It occurs quite often during an evening 
passed in social intercourse at Euchre, that a 
player has dealt to him five cards of such su- 
perior value that he is quite confident of win- 
ning all the five tricks without playing with 
his partner, and in such case he announces 
that he will Play Alone. The proper time to 
(44) 



PLAYING ALONE. 45 

declare this intention is when it is the turn of 
the player who holds the lone hand, as it is 
termed, either to order up the trump, or assist ; 
or, if the dealer, when he takes up the trump 
and before he discards ; or, when the player, 
or his partner, makes the trump. In each 
case the player makes known his intention by 
saying, distinctly and unequivocally, "I Play 
Alone." His partner then places the cards 
dealt to him, faces down on the table imme- 
diately before him, and is not permitted to 
make any remark in relation to the value of 
the cards which he had in his hand, during 
the play of the five tricks. 

The eldest-hand leads. The eldest-hand is 
always entitled to the lead, except when his 
partner Plays Alone, and then the lead is trans- 
ferred to the dealer's partner, for the partner 
of the player playing alone is always hors 
de combat during the play of that hand. 

If the player who Plays Alone, wins all 
five of the tricks from his antagonists, he is 
entitled to score four points to his game. But 
if he only makes four or three of the tricks, 



46 EUCHRE. 

he can count but one point. Should he fail 
to win three tricks, however, he is Euchred, 
which, when playing alone, counts his antago- 
nists the same number of points that he would 
have gained if successful in winning all the 
tricks, namely, four points. 

In playing the game on the Mississppi 
river, if the player who Plays Alone is 
Euchred, the steamer is stopped at the first 
landing and the unlucky player is put ashore. 
In the State of Arkansas he is carried out to 
be hung to the first adjacent tree, without 
benefit of clergy. But in a more refined and 
better established order of civilization, a 
hearty laugh against him is the only penalty 
he has to endure for the misplaced confidence 
on the cards — except those four points to the 
game of his opponents. 

It is customary in some coteries to count 
but two points when the adverse party Euchre 
the player who Plays Alone, and as part and 
parcel of the same usage either of his antago- 
nists holding high cards in the trump suit, 
may also Play Alone against him. In such 



PLAYING ALONE. 47 

a case, each player plays without his partner, 
and he who wins the odd trick, is entitled to 
score the four points. But this practice, and 
quite deservedly, receives but little favor, as 
the approved mode of play achieves the same 
result. 

There is also another improper custom, ad- 
hered to by a few players only, which trans- 
fers to the player who announces a lone hand, 
the right to lead, without any regard what- 
ever to the position he holds to the dealer, or 
indeed, if it should be the dealer himself who 
"Plays Alone. But this practice is too much at 
variance with the spirit of the game to be 
tolerated by experienced players. 

If the dealer's partner assists, or makes a 
trump, the dealer has the privilege of Playing 
Alone, and if the eldest-hand orders up the 
trump, or makes a trump, his partner may, in 
like manner, Play Alone. 

It occasionally happens that each one of 
two partners may hold a lone hand, and in 
that event the right of Playing Alone belongs 
to the partner whose turn to play is last. For 



48 EUCHRE. 

example: A and C are partners opposed to B 
and D. A deals and gives each of his oppo- 
nents a lone hand. B ; who is the eldest-hand, 
orders up the trump card, and announces that 
he will Play Alone. D, his partner, has the 
right to take the privilege of Playing Alone 
from him. But in this case, the partner D is 
compelled to Play Alone, and the player B, 
who first announced a lone hand, cannot play, 
lot withstanding that he would have a great 
advantage, being entitled to the lead. If this 
rule did not prevail, an unfair player, wishing 
to intimate the strength of his own hand to 
his partner, might say that he would Play 
Alone, after his partner had announced his 
intention to do so, and then decline to Play 
Alone, which would convey to his partner the 
information that he, also, had a strong hand 
at trumps, and, in that way, give him a great 
and an improper advantage. Until this rule 
was established, the compiler had often wit- 
nessed partners, both holding lone hands, 
bickering with each other before they could 
agree as to which one should have the privi 



PLAYING ALONE. 49 

lege of Playing Alone, which, of course, as 
developing their hands to each other, was en- 
tirely unfair. 

Should the eldest-hand, holding very strong 
cards at the suit turned up for trumps, and 
being also strong at next in suit, pass — which, 
by the way, is always done in order to Euchre 
the adverse party in case they take up the 
trump — and his partner also holds a strong- 
hand of the trump suit, and, in his turn, 
orders it up, the eldest-hand, having once 
passed the trump, cannot then Play Alone, 
but must take the chances with his partner to 
win a march. A player, having once passed 
the trump, or passed the making, cannot Play 
Alone, when his partner orders up, or makes 
a trump. We have known it asserted that when 
the eldest-hand — being strong in trumps and 
also at next in suit — passes, and his partner, 
when in turn, orders up, that the eldest-hand 
may then re-enter and be permitted to Play 
Alone. But this practice is clearly too unfair 
to be entertained, and we most unqualifiedly 

denounce it as entirely incompatible with 
3 



50 EUCHRE. 

the principles of play and the spirit of the 
game. 

Four high trumps and an Ace of a lay suit 
constitute a good lone hand. Three high 
trumps, with an Ace and the seven even of the 
same suit, is often a winning lone hand. A 
sequence of the Left-Bower, Ace, and King 
of trumps, and commanding lay cards, is 
always a good lone hand, because, if the 
Eight-Bower is out against it, one point only 
could be made if both partners played to- 
gether ; and, if it is not out, the player, who 
Plays Alone, has a fair chance to win all the 
tricks. In Playing Alone, the eldest-hand, 
being entitled to the lead, may Play Alone 
with a less strong hand, than either of the 
other players ; and, he may sometimes, when 
cards are running favorably for him and 
unfavorably to his opponents, win all the 
five tricks when holding only the Eight- 
Bower and a small trump, with commanding 
cards in one or more suits. 

But although the Eight-Bower and a small 
trump — the seven even— supported with com- 



PLAYING ALONE. 51 

loanding cards in lay suits, frequently make a 
winning lone hand, yet it would not be recom- 
mended to the tyro to play so bold a game. 
Players of experience are at times indulged 
with a presentiment as they call it, foretelling 
that so small a lone hand will win, but such 
prescience is more the result of observation 
than luck. 

In Playing Alone, whether the trump is 
adopted or made, the lead is always a deci- 
ded advantage,. "Put that in your pipe, and 
smoke it. " 

The dealer, being the last player to the 
first trick, may also venture to Play Alone 
on a less strong hand than either of the other 
players, except the eldest-hand. 

" There is a tide in the affairs of men, " 
which is often " taken at the flood " by ac- 
complished players, who will then hazard a 
lone hand with comparatively small cards. 
Suppose the dealer " at the flood, " and he 
Plays Alone with the Eight-Bower, King 
and nine of trumps, with an Ace, and a Queen 
— or inferior card even — of different lay 



52 EUCHRE. 

suits. In this case, after he has won the first 
two tricks with trumps, it is smart play to 
lead the Ace of the lay suit, especially if the 
adversaries' trumps are exhausted, for the 
opponents supposing he would naturally hold 
another card of the same suit as the Ace led 
for the third trick, would retain a card of 
that suit, if a medium one only, and throw 
away a King, or an Ace even, of a different 
suit, when the last trump was led for the 
fourth trick, and the Queen, or lower card, 
by such play, frequently wins. 

When the dealer, having only three trumps, 
is discarding to Play Alone, it is much safer 
to put out even so high a card as the King 
of a lay suit, being the only card he has of 
the suit, and retain an inferior card, should it 
be so low as the seven, of a suit of which he 
holds the Ace; for, after winning three tricks 
in trumps, the chances that the Ace of the 
lay suit, when led, will exhaust the cards in 
that suit and enable the seven to win the last 
trick, are decidedly more in his favor than 
that the Kino- would win on the first lead oi 



PLAYING ALONE. 53 

the suit if he had retained it. For the same 
reason, three commanding trumps with an 
Ace and seven of a lay suit, is considered a 
better lone hand than four trumps with a 
King of a lay suit. But, although a player 
may frequently hazard to Play Alone on a 
moderately strong hand, when a gentle course 
of luck comes wooingly to him, yet he must 
remember that like another too well known 
course, it " never did run smooth. n Instance 
a sad example : The dealer, having comple- 
ted the distribution of the cards, turns up the 
Ace of spades for the trump. The eldest- 
hand, examining his cards, finds he holds the 
Eight-Bower and seven of spades, and the 
seven, eight, and nine of clubs, and passes — 
as he should with that hand at any stage of 
the game. The other two players also pass, 
and the dealer having in hand the Left-Bower 
and King of spades, with the Ace and ten of 
hearts, and the Ace of diamonds — a captiva- 
ting hand — announces that he will Play 
Alone, and discards the ten of hearts — his 
own heart brimful of hope. The eldest-hand 



54 EUCHRE, 

leads either of the small clubs which his 
partner, holding but one, follows, and the 
dealer wins with the Ace of trumps. He 
then leads the Left-Bower, which the eldest- 
hand wins with the Right-Bower, and leads 
another club, which forces the dealer to play 
the King of trumps. The seven of trumps 
will then win either Ace that is led, and the 
third club winning the remaining Ace, the 
very strong lone hand is absolutely Euchred. 

In Playing Alone and winning, the card 
of lowest value should always be the last 
card led, because when the adversaries are 
throwing away on the preceding leads the 
chances of losing that inferior card are 
diminished. 

When playing against a lone hand a part- 
ner throws away high cards of one suit, it is 
to be presumed that he holds commanding 
cards in some other suit, and his partner 
should therefore retain his highest card in 
the suit his partner throws away, when he 
has one, in preference to any, not a command 
ing card, of a different suit. 



PLAYING ALONE. 55 

When a suit is trumped by the player who 
Plays Alone, of course his opponents will 
throw away all the cards they hold of that 
suit to the lone player's winning cards, when 
their trumps are exhausted. 

Should a player lose the first or the second 
trick, Playing Alone, he must then play cau- 
tiously, and only endeavor to win the majo- 
rity of the tricks ; for, having lost the chance 
of winning the five tricks, he must play to 
prevent being Euchred. More especially 
must he play with caution, if, after losing the 
first or second trick, he holds the tenace, for 
then, after he has taken one trick, he is cer- 
tain, if he plays right, of making the point. 

There is a peculiar practice of play, that 
takes place at a certain state of the score, to 
which we solicit especial attention. This 
state of the game is termed a Bridge. It is 
introduced at the close of this Chapter, for 
want of a more suitable spot to locate it, and 
We beg the gentle reader to give it a sort of 
retrospective effect by placing it supra — a 
little higher up the creek — and let it span 



56 EUCHRE. 

the space intervening between CI apters II. 
and III 

The Bridge, in Euchre, — not & pons asino- 
rum, — occurs when one party are scoring 
four points, and their opponents, having the 
deal, are scoring one or two points only. It 
is then always the duty of the eldest-hand to 
order up the trump, to prevent the dealer, or 
his partner, from Playing Alone — unless, the 
eldest-hand is sure of winning one trick. 
He is sure of a trick, of course, if he holds 
the Eight-Bower, — or the Left-Bower with 
another trump, the Left-Bower guarded, as 
it is termed. At this state of the game he 
orders up the trump — when not certain of one 
trick — preferring to be Euchred, and lose two 
points only, to giving the dealer, or his 
partner, the chance of making with a lone 
hand, and winning the game. This practice 
must be rigidly observed by the eldest-hand, 
for the advantages of the deal are so great, 
that the deal is deemed equivalent to a 
point; so, when the eldest-hand is Euchred 
where he has ordered up at the Bridge, his 



PLAYING ALONE. 57 

chances for winning the game are still deci- 
dedly in his favor. The poorer his hand, 
the stronger the reason for ordering up. 
Four to one, or two, is always a Bridge — 
four to nothing is not. 

But, if the eldest hand is sure of winning 
one trick he may pass, if he chooses, and this 
is a fair signal to his partner — like the Blue 
Peter, at Whist— who, if strong in trumps, 
will know that the eldest-hand has also one 
or two, if not more, commanding trumps, 
and he will then order up for the purpose of 
winning the point, and game. 

Three to one, and two to nothing, are 
sometimes considered a Bridge, especially if 
the dealer turns up a Bower, or other high 
card ; but the tyro would not be advised to 
take such liberties. Older players, who have 
acquired a tact in doing such things — by long 
observation and play, and attention to the 
run of the cards — may frequently succeed in 
such experiments. 

If either one of the dealer's opponents calls 
the attention of his partner to the state of the 



58 EUCHRE. 

game, at a Bridge — or gives any intimation of 
the fact — the dealer, or his partner, may then 
Play Alone, or permit the opponents to order 
up, at their option. Attention to the Bridge 
is the office of the eldest-hand alone — and as 
it is a free institution he cannot be tolled. 



CHAPTER IV. 

LAP, SLAM, JAMB0NE, AND JAMBOREE. 



44 Ambiguitas Verborum latens Verificatione sup- 
pletur." — Bacon's Maxims, 

" Once more I will renew 
His lapsed powers."— Milton. 



The addition of the Lap, Slam, and Jam- 
bone, to the game of Euchre is comparatively 
a modern institution, and is esteemed by com- 
petent judges— " the choice and master spirits 
of this age" — as one of the grand inventions 
of the present refined state of society — a re- 
sult of the advanced condition of civilization. 
We have indeed encountered some few play- 
ers, but of indifferent skill, who decline to 
sanction this pleasing variation of the game, 
and persistently insist in their opposition to 
the Lap — which is counting all the points won 
over five to the next game — declaring that 

(59) 



60 EUCHRE. 

you might as well score all the points won 
over the number constituting the game at 
Whist, or at any other game of cards ; and 
adhere most rigidly to the ffixed fact that one 
game is only one game, no matter how many 
points are won above the number of which it 
consists. This is very good logic when ap- 
plied to most games, but it is inapplicable to 
ours; and this opposition to the Lap consti- 
tutes the principal objection to the Jambone. 
But this very practice thus objected to, we 
affectionately cherish as one of the most inter- 
esting features of our pet game. Alas foi 
difference in taste ! So many men, so many 
minds — autani de tetes, aidant cV opinions, as 
we say at Paris, with a haussement oT epaules 
We heard it once alleged that people do 
exist who even object to play cards ! " Tel] 
it not in Gath." And then this variation of 
the old mode of playing the game of Euchre 
adds so immensely to the amusement of the 
play — the purpose, we opine, for which the 
game was invented — and has such a cheering 
influence on a despondent player's downcast 



LAP, SLAM, AND JAMBONE. 61 

heart, to whom ill-luck has been obstinately 
running, by giving him the hope — " gay hope 
by fancy fed" — that if fortune — " the hood-' 
wink'd goddess"— will once again smile upon 
him he may be enabled, by a few brilliant 
coups, to retrieve his sad reverses. And our 
game is, in truth, so essentially variant in 
many points of play from all other games, 
that this objection to the Lap, Slam, and Jam- 
bone, cannot be fairly urged against it, and 
this mode of play is as fair for one party as 
the other. u So what's the Aodds, as long as 
we're 'appy." We confess to never yet having 
encountered a first-class player who did not 
pronounce the Lap an eminently pleasing ad- 
dition to the game. 

Permit us to instance a case, more clearly 
to illustrate our meaning. Suppose a player, 
ardent as ecclesiastical zeal, at the score of 
four — though not four score, for the zeal's 
sake — perceives, on examination of the cards 
dealt to him, that he holds a sure lone hand, 
and all the other players pass to him. If he 
is to be deprived of the privilege of playing 



62 EUCHRE. 

that hand Alone, and of counting the four 
points which he wins, as he most assuredly 
would be were he not allowed to Lap the 
superfluous three points to the next game 
such deprivation would cause him to be de 
pressed in spirits for a week — as wretched a 
youth as if he had been entangled in the 
meshes of the tender passion and suffered dis. 
appointment. " These little things are great 
to little men." 

But, as an agreeable man is one who 
agrees, and who delights to obviate difficul- 
ties, it would be advisable before sitting down 
to play with persons who have never pre- 
viously " entered the lists" together, for one 
player to make himself agreeable by inquir- 
ing if this manner of playing the game is to 
be adopted; and, if the proposition gives 
rise to any difference of opinion affecting the 
merits, we most sincerely hope that its ex- 
pression may not prove to be so tedious to 
either party as this preamble of ours. 

The Lap then is simply counting upon the 
score of the ensuing game all the points made 



LAP, SLAM, AND JAMBONE. 63 

over and above the five, of which the game 
consists. For example : if one party, having 
scored four points towards game, should 
Euchre their opponents, or should win all 
five tricks, either of which events entitles 
them to two points, they therefore not only 
win that game, but are permitted to score the 
superfluous point as one in the next game. 
Oi, if a player, at the score of four, Plays 
Alone and wins the five tricks, he counts the 
three points over to the next game. 

Slam, or Love-game, is a term common to 
many games of cards, and implies that, when 
a party win the game, before their oppo- 
nents have made one point, that game is 
deemed to be a double-game, and must be 
reckoned as two games. Suppose a player, 
at the score of four, and his opponents are 
counting nothing, and he Plays Alone and 
wins the five tricks, which counts his side 
four additional points— eight in all — he wins 
that game, which reckons as two games, and 
he is permitted to transfer the extra three — 
by means of the Lap — to the next game, and 



64 EUCHRE. 

feels that he has accomplished a good thing, 
" Alone I did it." We can trace no analogy 
between the terms Slam, and Love-game, 
which have the identical signification, how- 
ever, at cards, without indecorously alluding 
to our own, and neighbors' street doors, and 
agitated exits; and so, prudently refrain. 
Verbum sat. 

Jambone is a euphonic term, of difficult 
etymology. But — "What's in a name?" 
Whatever its derivation may have been, how 
ever, it is now only used to express the inten 
tion of a player to Play Alone, with his 
cards exposed on the table. Thus, if a player, 
on examining the cards distributed to him by 
the dealer, finds that he holds cards of such 
estimable worth that he is confident of win- 
ning the five tricks, he announces, when his 
turn, that he will play Jambone, and spreads 
his cards out in a line before him, on the 
table, with their faces turned up to view. 
When the cards are exposed by the Jam- 
bone player in this manner, the player enti- 
tled to the lead commences the round, and 



LAP, SLAM, AND JAMBONE. 65 

has the right to call one of the cards so ex- 
posed, to be played to the first trick, But 
this right to call a card belongs only to that 
adversary who has the right to lead, or to 
play first, for if the partner of that adversary 
gives any intimation to his associate which 
would enable the two together to win the 
first trick, they thereby forfeit their right to 
the call, and the Jambone player may then 
play whichever card he chooses to the first 
trick. If the Jambone player is successful in 
gaining the* whole five tricks, — under this 
disadvantage of showing the opponents his 
cards, and of giving the elder in hand the 
right to name one of the cards so exposed to 
be played on the first trick, — he is entitled to 
count eight points. 

Jambone may be played by any player 
under the same restrictions which regulate 
Playing Alone. 

If the adverse party order up, or make the 
trump, a player holding a Jambone hand can- 
not be permitted to play it as such, and he must 
be content simply to win a Euchre with it. 
4 



66 EUCHRE. 

If the Jambone player is entitled to the 
lead, then his 1^-hand adversary has the right 
to call one of the exposed cards as the lead. 

If the first trick under these circumstances 
is won by the Jambone player, the play pro- 
ceeds in the usual course ; and if the Jambone 
player then wins only the majority of the five 
tricks, he scores but one point towards game, 
as in Playing Alone. 

The opponent, entitled to call, has the 
right to call but one card only, and that 
card to the first trick played, and the Jam- 
bone player is entitled to play his other four 
cards according to his own judgment. 

If the eldest-hand, opposed to the dealer 
playing the Jambone, leads a suit which the 
Jambone player can trump, and calls, on 
leading, the smallest trump in the open hand, 
if his partner can also trump the suit with a 
higher trump they of course win that trick, 
for the Jambone player is compelled to play 
the card called, when not inconsistent with 
the system of play. But let us illustrate this 
point. Suppose the dealer plays a Jambone 



LAP, SLAM, AND JAMBONE. 67 

hand, and clubs are trumps, and in the open 
hand he shows the Bowers, Ace, and ten of 
trumps, with the Ace of hearts. The eldest- 
hand has three diamonds, with no trump, 
and leads one of them, hoping, as he has so 
many, his partner may be able to trump it 
also, and calls the ten of trumps from the 
Jambone hand. His partner having the 
Queen of trumps, with no diamond, wins the 
trick. The Jambone player would not have 
the option, in this case, after the Queen w^as 
played, to throw away his Ace of hearts, in 
lieu of the ten of trumps, but must always 
play the called card. 

Should the Jambone player fail to win 
three tricks, it is not yet known what mea- 
sure of corporal punishment ought to bo 
inflicted upon him, but his adversaries, at all 
events, would be entitled to count eight 
points. 

The dealer, possessing the right to dis- 
card, or, in other words, having six cards 
with the privilege of putting out one of them, 
more often holds a Jambone hand than either 



68 EUCHRE. 

of the other players. He is never compelled 
to use, or take in, the card turned up for 
trump, if he should be so fortunate as not to 
r equire it, for then the turn up card only 
serves to indicate the trump suit, and he may 
decline to discard. The player calling the 
card to the first trick should call it at the 
moment he leads, or if the lead /belongs to 
the Jambone player, his opponent entitled to 
the call must call before he plays, for if the 
opponent's partner plays his card before the 
player who has the right to call has called, 
the right to the call becomes forfeited, and 
the Jambone player may then play any card 
he chooses to the first trick. 

A few examples of the play, by way of 
illustration, may define our positions more 
clearly. Suppose, then, the dealer, conclu- 
ding the deal, turns up the Ace of spades. 
The other players pass, or his partner may 
assist, and, examining his cards, he is delight- 
ed to behold the two black Bowers, with the 
Queen and ten of trumps, and a card of a lay 
suit. He immediately announces the Jam 



LAP ; SLAM, AND JAMB0NE. 69 

bone, discarding the lay card. He then turns 
up his cards on the table, in a line before 
him, and is confident of success — naturally, 
as the chances in favor of the King of trumps 
not being out against him are so mighty mul- 
titudinous that it would be quite unnecessary 
to enter into a calculation of them — even if 
he could. But the fickle goddess, bless her 
heart! does not invariably bestow all her 
favors on one individual — we love to say it — 
for the eldest-hand does, curiously enough,— 
oh, the capriciousness of luck! — hold the 
identical King of trumps. He leads that 
King, of course, with a smile of gratitude, 
announcing in a winning manner — bland as 
the breath of spring — that he calls the Queen, 
which the dealer is compelled to play to the 
King after the eldest-hand's partner has fol- 
lowed to the lead, and the Jambone player 
loses that trick. Although he wins the other 
four tricks, he is only entitled to count one 
point, as previously stated. If the dealer had 
played that hand alone, simply, of course he 
would have won everv trick, and secured 



70 EUCHKE. 

four points; but the chances of winning all 
eight points were so seductive that it was 
impossible not to make the hazard; for, 
nothing venture, nothing gain, is, pre-emi- 
nently, a maxim of Euchre. Had the eldest- 
hand not been the lucky holder of the King, 
but had held, in lieu of his majesty, an indif- 
ferent trump, or, in fact, any trump, it then 
would have been his imperative duty to have 
led it, calling the Queen or the ten, in the 
faint hope that his partner might possibly 
hold the King — which gave them the only 
chance of preventing the Jambone hand from 
making. Such chances must never be dis- 
regarded. 

If the dealer plays Jambone with a quart 
or sequence of four trumps from the Left- 
Bower, and an Ace of a lay suit, (which he 
should invariably do, because, if the Eight- 
Bower is out against him he could only win 
one point if he Played Alone,) the eldest-hand 
should lead a card if he holds one of the same 
suit as the dealer's lay Ace, in the hope that 
his partner might be able to trump it. The 



LAP, SLAM, AND JAMBONE. 71 

eldest-hand could not play a lay card of a dif- 
ferent suit and call tlie Ace of the lay suit to 
be played to it, because that would be at va 
riance with the spirit of the game. No player 
having the right to call a card from the Jam- 
bone player's hand, can require him to throw 
away a commanding card of a lay suit to a 
lead of a different suit, but in that case can 
only call his lowest trump. 

If the cards should be cut in such a manner 
that the dealer turns up a Bower, say the 
Knave of spades — " the most unkindest cut of 
all," — and he deals to himself the Left-Bower 
and nine of trumps, with the Ace of each of 
the three lay suits, he may discard his nine 
of trumps and play Jambone. He discards 
this small trump because the chances are much 
more favorable that either one of the three 
Aces will win the first trick, when called by 
the eldest-hand, than that his nine of trumps 
will make. It would not be prudent to play 
this hand Jambone, if the player holding it was 
the eldest-hand, because the player next in 
play to him might be able to trump one of 



72 EUCHRE. 

the three Aces, and he would therefore call 
it, and in that way win the first trick. But 
when the suit is led to the Jambone player, 
the chances of the second player not being 
able to trump are greatly in favor of the Jam- 
bone player, who would then win the trick, 
and would probably exhaust the trumps with 
his two Bowers, and clear the way for the 
other two Aces. 

Although the foregoing hand would gene- 
rally win, yet it might be quite easily Euchred. 
Par example : Suppose the eldest-hand holds 
the ten of trumps, three small hearts, and a 
small diamond. His partner has the seven 
and eight of trumps, and three small clubs. 
The eldest-hand leads a small heart, — because, 
having three of them, his partner would be 
more likely not to have any — and calls the 
Ace. His partner not holding a heart, trumps 
with the seven, and wins the trick. He then 
leads a club, on which the dealer puts his 
Ace, and the eldest-hand wins with the ten of 
trumps, making the second trick. The eldest- 
hand then leads his small diamond, which his 



LAP, SLAM, AND JAMBONE. 73 

partner wins with the other small trump, and 
the dealer's two Bowers are left " blooming- 
alone:" while his antagonists proceed content- 
edly to score eight points for their successful 
play. " They laugh that win," if we remem- 
ber rightly. 

Once more. Suppose the dealer is assisted 
by his partner, and, looking at his hand, finds 
that he holds the two Bowers, with the seven 
and eight of trumps, a lay Ace, with another 
small card. He may discard and venture the 
Jambone on this rather indifferent hand — if 
the score of the game invites it, though it 
would, ordinarily, be better to Play Alone, 
simply,— for, if the eldest-hand has no trump 
to lead and to call the seven or eight, the 
dealer is almost sure of winning. Eemember, 
there are only nine trumps — eight of the suit, 
with the Knave of the same color — in this fa- 
vorite game of burs. The dealer, in this case, 
sees four of them in his own hand, and he is 
certain that his partner has at least two more, 
which accounts for six of the trumps. As 
there are ten cards in the hands of the two 



74 EUCHRE. 

opponents, and eleven more in the talon, the 
chances are very much in favor of the eldest- 
hand being without a trump. We could cipher 
it oat for you, but it is scarcely necessary. 

Jamboree is another musical sound of 
unknown etymological deduction, rarely an- 
nounced, however — " breathe not his name" — 
and signifies the combination of the five high- 
est cards, namely, the two Bowers, Ace, King, 
and Queen of trumps, in one hand, which be- 
stows on the player— fortuna juvante — who 
holds this galaxy of cards, the pleasing priv- 
ilege of counting sixteen points. It requires 
but little to be said of this rare constellation 
of the " painted tablets," for a player will not 
have dealt to him the Jamboree more than 
two or three times in the course of a quarter 
of a century's addiction to the game. 

The player holding Jamboree simply an- 
nounces the fact, and displays the cards ; for 
no play, of course, is necessary. But the 
player must announce the Jamboree ; for if, by 
mistake, he should announce the Jambone, and 
commence to play the hand as such, when in 



LAP, SLAM, AND JAMBONE. 75 

fact he holds the Jamboree, he is only entitled 
to score what he announces, and to count 
eight points. The mistake of one party is the 
game of the other. 

In counting the Lap, and the Slam, it is to 
be remembered that all the points made above 
five go to the score of the next ensuing game ; 
and, if those points extend to so many as ten 
— as in the case of a party scoring two points, 
and winning with the Jambone, making eight 
points more — the second five points, from six 
to ten inclusive, must be a Slam, which counts 
two games — making, in all, three games. If 
a player is scoring four points and wins with 
the Jambone, which, added to the four, makes 
him twelve points, he counts three games, and 
the supernumerary two lap into the fourth 
game. If the adverse party were not scoring 
one point, the first game would be a Slam, as 
well as the second, which would then count 
four games, with the two to the next game. 
This, of course, is the highest number of 
points that can be gained in one hand — ex- 
cept with the Jamboree. 



76 EUCHRE. 

The Jamboree hand wins sixteen points, 
which must, at least, count five games with 
one point to lap over. If a player is scoring 
four to his opponent's nothing, and announces 
the Jamboree, the sixteen points then won 
added to his four, make twenty points, which 
make four games, each of them a Slam, which 
entitles him to count, in all, eight games — the 
highest figure attainable. 

Jamboree, like Jambone, and Play ing Alone, 
cannot be played, as such, if the adverse 
party order up the trump, or m^ke it ; for in 
that case it can only win the two points — as 
when playing the Bridge — for the Euchre. 

It will be perceived that our game is pe- 
culiarly symmetrical in arrangement; and to 
prevent any misunderstanding in scoring the 
games, let us reiterate that the counts, in the 
different variations of play, increase in geo- 
metrical progression ; — and, when one party, 
adopting or making the trump, win the odd 
trick, they count only one point; in winning 
all five tricks they count two points ; Playing 
Alone and winning, four points; winning at 



LAP, SLAM, AND JAMBONE. 77 

Jambone, eiglit points ; with the Jamboree, 
sixteen points. Should the party, adopting 
or making the trump, fail to win the odd 
trick in either of these variations of play, 
they lose the same number of points which 
they would have been entitled to count if they 
had been successful in gaining the five tricks. 



CHAPTEB V. 

TECHNICALITIES. 



" Verbnm verbo reddere Sdtts 
Interpres. ' ' — Horace. 
11 Words — words — words. ' ' — Wordsworth 



Adopt the Trump. To play at the suit 
turned up. 

Assist. Is where the dealer's partner, be- 
lieving that he can win the odd trick, at 
least, agrees to play at the trump turned up. 

Bower. Either Knave of the color of the 
trump suit. " Will you come to the bower I 
have shaded for you ?" 

Bridge. Is where the opponents, having 
the deal, are counting but one or two points 
only towards game, and the other side are at 
the score of four. It is then the duty of the 
eldest-hand, if he has not one certain trick in 
hand, to order up the trump card to prevent 
(78) 



TECHNICALITIES. 79 

the dealer, or his partner, from Playing 
Alone. 

Call. Is the right to require an adversary 
to play a card that has been improperly shown 
or exposed. 

Cards Away. To Play Alone. 

Count. To reckon the game. 

Counters. The deuce and tray, usually 
of diamonds and spades, probably because 
the pips of those two suits being more sharp 
and angular are easily discerned. 

Court-Cards. The Aces, Kings, Queens, 
and Knaves, of each suit, as distinguished 
from the numerical ones. Formerly called 
coat-cards. 

Cross the Suit. To make a l/ump of 
different color from the card turned up for 
the trump. 

Cut. To separate the pack into two parts 
before the player, whose right it m to deal, 
distributes the cards. 

Deal. To distribute to each } lay )v five 
cards, face downwards, after the pa</k has 
been shuffled and cut. 



80 EUCHRE. 

Dealer. He to whom belongs the privi- 
lege of distributing the cards to the other 
players. 

Deck. Synonymous with Pack. 

Discard. Putting out one card from the 
dealer's hand, and replacing it with the card 
turned up, when it has been adopted for the 
trump. 

Doubled. Two cards of the same suit. 

Dutch It. The same as Next In Suit. 

Eldest-Hand. The left-hand adversary 
of the dealer. 

Euchre. This term, which gives the game 
its name, is used to denote the loss of a party, 
adopting or making a trump, and who fail to 
win a majority of the tricks. It also applies 
to Lone and Jambone hands failing to win ; 
the successful opponents counting four and 
eight points respectively. 

Paced Card. One with its face turned up, 
so that it may be seen. 

Finesse. Is where a third player holding 
the best and the third best trump, plays the 
latter, taking the risk that the last player does 



TECHNICALITIES. 81 

not hold the second best trump. If the last 
player does not hold it ; the third player by 
this play wins the two tricks. 

Follow Suit. To play a card of the suit led. 

Foece. To lead a suit of which your oppo- 
nents hold none, thus forcing them to trump 
or lose the trick. 

Fkesh Deal. When an accident occurs in 
dealing, the dealer is entitled to deal anew. 

Game, When two players, associated to- 
gether as partners, make five points before 
their adversaries. 

Go Alone. The same as to Play Alone. 

Guabded. Any two cards of suit. 

Hand. The five cards given to each player 
by the dealer. 

Jambone. Is when a player holds such 
high cards that he announces to play them, 
without his partner, turned, faces up to view 
on the table, and gives to that adversary who 
is entitled to lead, or to play first, the privi- 
lege of calling one of the cards so exposed to 
the first trick played ; or, if the Jambone player 
has the lead, to call a card from his open hand 
5 

m 



82 EUCHRE. 

to be played to. If he can then win all five 
tricks he is entitled to count eight points. 

Jamboree. Holding the five highest cards 
at trumps, being the two Bowers, Ace, King, 
and Queen, which the player having them 
shows, as at Jambone, and is entitled to count 
sixteen points. 

Lap. To count all the points made over 
five to the next game. 

Lay Card. Any card not a trump. 

Lay Suit. Either of the three suits when 
not the trump. 

Lead. The card first played by the eldest- 
hand; afterwards the card led by him who 
has won the preceding trick. 

Left-Bower. The Knave of the same color 
as the trump suit, which is the second best 
trump. 

Left-Bower Guarded. To hold the Left- 
Bower, and any other trump, which will gene- 
rally win one trick if properly played. 

Lone Hand. A hand, so strong in trumps, 
that it will probably win all five tricks if 
Played Alone. 



TECHNICALITIES. 83 

Lone Player. One who plays without his 
partner. 

Love Game. Is when one party count five 
before their adversaries have made one point. 
Also, an innocent sedentary amusement be- 
tween two young persons, of opposite sexes, 
"by moonlight alone." 

Make the Point. Is when the players, 
who adopt or make the trump, win the odd 
trick. 

Make the Trump. To name any suit for 
the trump after all the players have passed, 
and the dealer has turned down the trump card. 

March. Is when two partners playing to- 
gether win all of the five tricks. 

Mark the Game. To count. 

Misdeal. An error in the distribution of 
the five cards belonging to each player — or 
when the right-hand opponent has not cut the 
cards previous to their distribution — which 
forfeits the right to the deal. 

Next in Suit. The trump the same color 
of the suit turned down — as if a diamond is 
turned down and the trump is made a heart. 



S4 






Vviiirical C The -even to the ten, 

both inclusive, as distinguished from the court- 

Odd Trick. The third won of the five 
tricks. 

?.der it Up. To require the dealer and 
partner to play at the suit turned up. 

Pack. T„e Euchre paek k composed of 
the thirty-two sards left in a Whisi or com- 
plete pack. u::er all the sixes, fives, : ; 
and deuces have been thrown c 

Pass. To announce that the player de- 

lea to play at the trump turned up. "He 
as if he knew me not*" — a beautiful 
ballad by Bayly. 

Pass the Making. To decline to name 
any suit for trump. 

Pip. The spots on the numerical cards, 
from the seven to the ten. Also, a malady 
prevalent among adolescent chickens — a cure 
for which will be furnished, gratis, to our sub- 
urban subscribers, by application at the office. 

Play Alone. To play a hand without the 
partner. 



TECHNICALITIES. 85 

Point. One of the five numbers of which a 
game consists. 

Quakt. Four trumps in sequence. 

Eentree. The right to the lead which be- 
longs to the player who has won the last trick. 

Eevoke. A Eevoke is when a player, who 
holds a card of the suit led, plays, by mistake 
or design, a card of a different suit. 

Eight-Bower. The Knave of the trump 
suit, which is the commanding trump. 

Eound. The five tricks played in each 
deal — and each trick is also termed the first, 
second, third, fourth, and fifth round. 

Euff. To trump a lay suit. 

Score. The count, showing the state of 
the game. 

Sequence. The regular succession of three 
or more cards in hand. 

Shuffle. To mix the cards together be- 
fore they are cut to be distributed to the 
players. 

Side Cards. The same as Lay Cards. 

Slam. To win a game before the adverse 
party count one point in it. 



86 EUCHRE. 

Spot. The same as Pip. 

Stock. Synonymous with Talon. 

Suit. The name given to each of the four 
denominations, or orders, of the cards con- 
tained in a pack — as the suit of diamonds, 
hearts, spades, and clubs. 

Take it Up. The dealer's announcement 
that he intends to play at the suit turned up 
for trumps. 

Talon. The eleven cards remaining in the 
pack after the dealer has distributed five to 
each player, and turned up the twenty-first 
card for the trump. 

Tenace. Is when a player holds the high- 
est and third best trumps and is the last player, 
which insures to him those two tricks. 

Throw Away. To play a card, not a trump, 
of different suit to that led. 

Tierce. A sequence of three trumps, as 
the two Bowers and Ace, or the Ace, King, 
Queen, et cceL 

Trick. The five cards played by each 
player, and won by the highest card played — 
also called a Eound. 



TECHNICALITIES. 87 

Tkump. The suit adopted, or made, the 
commanding suit. 

Trump Card. The card turned up by the 
dealer for the trump. 

Turn-Down. The card shown, or turned 
up, for trump, which the dealer turns, face 
down, when all four players decline to play 
at that suit. 

Turn-Up. The card, in dealing, next to 
the twentieth, or last card dealt, which is 
turned, face up, on the talon for trump. 

Underplaying. Is to follow suit with a 
card of inferior value to the adversary's lead 
when holding one that can win it. 



CHAPTER VI. 

LAWS. 



"We have striot statutes, and most biting laws." 

Shakspeare. 
"Laws wise as nature, and as fix'd as fate.'' — Pope. 



The Laws of Euchre should be carefully 
studied by every player who desires to be- 
come an accomplished adept in this fascinating 
game. The laws, here compiled, are observed 
and approved by the best players, and are 
supposed to determine every case which may 
occur in play. They should be enforced in 
the strictest sense, on all occasions, never de- 
viating from them in the slightest manner 
yourself, and requiring your adversaries, with 
proper courtesy, of course, also to respect 
them; for, if a player is to be permitted to act 
as he chooses — to indicate by signs or remarks 
to his partner the character of the cards he 
(88) 



LAWS. 89 

holds — or to play a card and take it back — or 
other similar impropriety — you might as well 
sit down to the table and play at Jack-Straws. 
In some few instances the laws may appear 
too rigid, but experience demonstrates to all 
skillful players the absolute necessity of adhe- 
ring undeviatingly to the provisions they are, 
designed to enforce — the law in such case 
made and provided — for the integrity of the 
game must be strictly preserved. Dura lex, 
sed lex. By a careful observance of the laws, 
moreover, the unpleasant disputes and alter- 
cations which so often interrupt and mar the 
merriment of a card party, will be entirely 
obviated. 



Law I. 



Each player must cut for the deal, the two 
highest and the two lowest become partners, 
and he who cuts the lowest card is entitled to 
the deal. Should the lowest cards cut be of 
similar value, it is a tie as respects them, and 
those parties must cut again. If the person 



90 EUCHRE. 

cutting should show two cards instead of one, 
he must be deemed to have cut the highest, 
or if he let fall a card from the pack, face up, 
that card must be considered his cut. Each 
party cuts, and shows the bottom card of 
those he has lifted from the pack. In cutting, 
the cards rank as at Whist, the Ace being the 
lowest. 

Law II. 

The cards must be shuffled by the dealer 
and cut by his right-hand opponent. The 
latter has also the privilege of shuffling them, 
and if he does, the dealer, who is always enti- 
tled to the last shuffle, may shuffle them anew 
if he chooses. After the cards have been 
cut for the deal, however, no one, except the 
dealer, can touch the pack previous to dealing 

Law III. 

In cutting for the deal, three cards at least 
must be lifted from the pack, and not fewer 
than four must be left upon the table. The 
dealer should never hold the pack in his hand, 



LAWS, 91 

when presenting it for the cut, but should 
place it on the table near his right-hand ad 
versary. 

Law IV. 

In dealing, five cards are distributed to 
each player, either by three and two, or by 
two and three, in two rounds ; but the dealer 
must continue to follow whichever mode he 
at first adopts, and should he depart from it, 
either of the adverse parties may, before 
looking at his cards, require a fresh deal. 

Law V. 

If a card is faced, or is turned in dealing 
unless it is the twenty-first, or trump card, 
the pack must be shuffled anew and a fresh 
deal made ; but the dealer does not lose his 
privilege. Should the dealer show more than 
one card in turning up the trump card the 
deal is likewise void, and he must deal anew 

Law VI. 

Should either of the dealer's opponents, 



92 EUCHRE. 

during the deal, expose a card to view, the 
dealer may have a fresh deal, or not, at his 
option, but he must decide before looking at 
his own cards. If his partner exposes a card, 
either of the adversaries, in like manner, may, 
before the trump is turned up, require a new 
deal. 

Law VII. 

No player is permitted to take up, or to 
look at, his cards during the deal, and should 
a misdeal ensue in consequence of such im- 
propriety, the dealer does not lose his privi- 
lege, and may deal anew. It must be consi 
dered a misdeal, however, if his partner com 
mits the fault. 

Law VIII. 

When too few or too many cards are dealt, 
if the mistake can be rectified, and the pro- 
per order of the distribution of the cards as- 
certained, before the trump card is turned up, 
the deal is valid ; but if the error is not dis- 
covered until after the trump card is turned 



LAWS. 93 

up, the deal is forfeited, and passes to the next 
player. 

Law IX. 

If the cards are dealt by a player who is 
not entitled to the deal, and the error is dis- 
covered before he looks at his cards, though 
the trump card be turned, that deal is null, 
and the cards must be restored to the player 
entitled to the deal, even if the eldest-hand, or 
either of the other players, adopts the trump. 
If the dealer has discarded and the eldest- 
hand has led, however, the mistake cannot be 
corrected. 

Law X. 

If, in any deal, the pack is ascertained to 
be imperfect, by containing too many, or too 
few cards of the proper value in either 
suit, that particular deal is void, but all the 
games, or points, made in the preceding deals 
with the same pack are valid; and the 
deal in which the error is discovered is not 
forfeited. 



94 EUCHRE. 

Law XI. 

The trump card must be left in view on 
the talon by the dealer, after discarding, until 
it is his turn to play, when he may remove it 
to his hand. After he has taken up the 
trump card no player has a right to demand 
what particular card was turned up, although 
he may ask what is the trump suit. 

Law XII. 

Whenever a misdeal occurs the deal is for- 
feited, and the opponent on the left of the 
dealer becomes entitled to the deal. 

Law XIII. 

Each person, in playing, should place his 
card on the table immediately before him, but 
if this practice should not be pursued no 
player has a right to ask who played a par- 
ticular card, although he may require the 
other players to draw their cards before them. 

Law XIY. 

If the eldest-hand leads before the dealer 



LAWS. 95 

has discarded, he cannot withdraw his card 
and change his lead, nor can the dealer, at 
any time before completing his discard, be 
deprived of his right to Play Alone. The 
discard is not completed until the dealer 
places his card under the talon, or on the 
table, and has quitted it; and when the 
dealer has once quitted the discarded card he 
cannot change it. 



-"■o^ 



Law XV. 

If a player leads, or plays, out of turn, he 
may be compelled to withdraw his card, sub- 
ject to the penalty of the call ; if it causes 
an error in the play of any other party that 
player may withdraw his card without pe- 
nalty ; but, in the ease of an improper lead, 
if four cards have been played before the 
error is discovered the lead is good, and the 
player winning the trick is entitled to the 
next lead. 

Law XVI. 
Any card which is separated from those in 



96 EUCHKE. 

hand and has touched the table ; is deemed to 
have been played — even if the face be down- 
ward — though if a card is played to a lead 
of a suit different from the one led, it may be 
taken up, subject to the call, and another of the 
proper suit played. But if the player should 
have none of the suit led, and plays a card 
which he did not intend, he is not permitted 
to take it up again after he has once quitted it. 

Law XVII. 

If a player plays two or more cards to a 
trick instead of one, the adverse parties have 
the right to compel him to play either one of 
the cards they please, without regard to the 
order in which they were played, and the 
other card, or cards, shown may be called in 
the subsequent tricks, like other exposed 
cards. 

Law XVIII. 

No player is allowed to look at any of the 
tricks during the play of a hand, after they 
have been turned, except the last trick only. 



LAWS. 97 

Law XIX. 

If any player plays with six or more cards, 
or, if the dealer plays and omits to discard, 
and fails to announce the fact before three 
tricks have been turned, such player or dealer 
cannot count the point, or points, made on 
their side, in that hand, and they lose the 
deal. But if the adverse party win under 
such circumstances they are entitled to count 
all they make. 

Law XX. 

If a player, designedly, or for any reason, 
places his cards on the table, faces turned up, 
he is not permitted to take them up again, and 
his adversaries may call each card like other 
exposed cards, — except at Jambone, when the 
right to call is limited to the first trick. Thus 
if a player, sure of winning, exhibits his 
cards, his opponents can continue the play, 
and have the right to call each card so ex- 
posed. The penalty is the same if a player 
believing he has lost shows his cards in a 

similar way. 
6 



98 EUCHRE, 

Law XXI. 

Whenever a player, who is entitled to the 
privilege of making the trump, once names a 
suit, he cannot be permitted to change it, and 
should he, by mistake, name the suit turned 
down, it is equivalent to passing, and the right 
to make the trump then belongs to his left- 
hand opponent. 

Law XXII. 

A player intending to Play Alone must 
announce his determination to play without 
his partner in such an audible and distinct 
expression that no doubt must exist of his in- 
tention, for if his manner of announcing it is 
ambiguous, and a legal lead is made, by him- 
self or an adversary, he loses the privilege of 
Playing Alone and must be compelled to play 
with his partner. 

Law XXIII. 

Whenever a revoke occurs, whether from 
inattention or design, the adverse parties are 
entitled to add two points to their score. 



LAWS. 99 

Law XXIV. 

The revoke is not completed until the trick 
in which it has been made is turned and quit- 
ted, and the player committing the revoke, or 
his partner, has again played. 

Law XXV. 

If a player revoking perceives his error 
previous to the turning or quitting of the 
trick in which it has been made, he can with- 
draw his card from the trick and follow the 
suit led, but his left-hand antagonist may com- 
pel him to play the highest or the lowest card 
he holds of that suit ; or, if it seems more ad- 
vantageous to his side, he may call the card 
so exposed and taken back whenever it is the 
offending player's turn to play, or lead, in a 
subsequent trick. 

Law XXVI. 

If the partner of a player, who has made a 
revoke, but has discovered it in time to cor- 
rect it, has played to the trick, he is not 
permitted to change the card he has played, 



100 EUCHRE. 

but the adversary who has played after the 
revoke occurred may withdraw his card from 
the trick without penalty, and play another, 
if he thinks it may give him an advantage. 

Law XXVII. 

Should either of the adversaries mix the 
cards together when a revoke is alleged against 
them they incur the penalty of the revoke, and 
the players claiming it are entitled to score 
the two points. 

Law XXVIII. 

When the cards have been cut for a new 
deal, no party is entitled to claim the penalty 
of a revoke ; and, in case of a reciprocal re- 
voke in one hand, one error offsets the other 
and a fresh deal must be had. 

Law XXIX. 

If a player shows, or exposes, one or more 
of his cards, intentionally or by accident, the 
card or cards so shown may be called by an 
opponent, either as a lead, when the offending 



LAWS. 101 

player's turn to lead, or to the exposed card's 
suit when led. A card is shown if it is pur- 
posely, or accidentally exposed, and either of 
the opposite players can distinguish its char- 
acter, and name it. And a card may be called 
if the holder names or indicates that it is in 
his hand. 

Law XXX. 

A player called upon for an exposed card 
must play the card or submit to the penalty 
of a revoke. 

Law XXXI. 

The right to call one or more cards, im- 
properly played or exposed, by an opponent, 
belongs only to the left-hand adversary of the 
offending player. And, in no case can such a 
card be called if it causes a revoke ; nor, can 
the player entitled to call, require his oppo- 
nent to throw away a commanding card to a 
lead of different suit, when holding no card of 
the suit led, whether he can trump it or not. 
If two or more players, in any one deal, ex- 
pose a card, the law is the same. 



102 EUCHRE. 

Law XXXII. 

Neither adversary is permitted to call the 
attention of his partner to the state of the 
game at a Bridge, without forfeiting their right 
to order up, and the dealer, or his partner, 
may then Play Alone, or not, at the option of 
either. 

Law XXXIII. 

If the^ counter marks more points than he 
is entitled to score to the game, either adver- 
sary — or a bystander even— may call attention 
to the error, and the opponents are entitled 
to count to their score, the point, or points, 
which their adversaries erroneously added to 
theirs. But the error cannot be rectified after 
the trump card has been turned in the deal 
next ensuing that in which tke error occurred. 
So if he fails to count, or counts fewer points 
than he is entitled to, he loses the right to 
score such point, or points, when the next deal 
is completed. 

Law XXXIV. 

Should a player from loss of temper — or 



LAWS. 103 

upon supposition that he has lost or won the 
proper number of tricks — or from any other 
cause — throw down his cards upon the table, 
with their faces turned up, he cannot take 
them in hand again, and his left-hand adver- 
sary may call each card so exposed as he 
deems most advantageous to his side. Who 
leaves the game loses it, is a maxim of this as 
of all other games. 

Law XXXV. 

Every species of unfairness is strictly pro- 
hibited ; and if a player, at any time between 
the turning up of the trump card and the play- 
ing of the last card of the deal, indicates to his 
partner the strength of his own hand, either 
by words or gestures ; or advises him how to 
lead or play ; or invites him to make a trump, 
by such expressions as " follow the rule," 
" make it something," or any similar phrase ; 
or, asks any questions about the game except 
such as are specifically allowed by the Laws 
of Euchre, the adversaries shall immediately 
add one point to their game, 



104 EUCHRE. 

Law XXXVI. 

In every case of a penalty which entitles 
one party to add a point, or more, to the score 
of their game — for the revoke, or any other 
wrong practice in play, — the offending party 
cannot count a point, or more, which they may 
have won in that deal — or round — in which 
the penalty was incurred; and the regular 
routine of the deal continues. 

Law XXXVII. 

Every penalty incurred by the misconduct 
of a player must be shared and submitted to 
by his partner — for partners are mutually 
responsible for each other's faults. 

Law XXXVIII. 

If a player, who has incurred a penalty 
imposed by a provision of any of the prece- 
ding Laws, refuses submission to such penalty, 
his opponents may immediately throw down 
their cards, and that game, at any state of the 
Bcore, is declared to belong to them. 



CHAPTEE VII. 

HINTS TO TYROS. 



" Upon this hint I spake.' ' — Shakspeare. 

" What could I more ? 
I warn'd thee, I admonish'd thee, foretold 
The danger, and the lurking enemy 
That lay in wait."— Milton. 

" Euchre and Life 
Own their losses and gains in ephemeral strife. 

* Play alone,' when you hold the * good cards' in the 

pack ; 

* Assist,' with the Ace, or the King and a Jack. 

c Pass,' holding l both Bowers' — on refusal to take, 
Yot can * make' it i the next' and can ' play what you 

make f 
Look out for the ' bridges,' and cross if you choose, 
But with Euchre and Life, play to win not to lose." 

Pettes. 



The ensuing hints, confidingly and confi- 
dently suggested to novices in our highly 

(105) 



106 EUCHRE. 

scientific and gleesome game, result from an 
experience gained in many a " glorious and 
weli-foughten field, " and although not pre- 
tending in these premises to be Sir Oracle yet 
hand ineacpertm loquor. We hope they will 
be kindly taken, as meant. Should they 
appear trite and simple to players of a cer- 
tain degree of skill, we beg permission to 
remind them that the hints are offered only 
to novitiates, with a desire fully to explain 
to them some of the most approved points 
of play. 

We venture to invite attention to a few 
words by way of prelude. 

As the principle which guides us in social 
intercourse (if we remember our early educa- 
tion aright) is politeness — the observance of 
those pleasing amenities which tend so much 
to make life agreeable — so that which should 
guide us at the card-table is good humor — that 
card-inal virtue. 

Adhere undeviatingly and persistently to 
the law in each and every case made and pro- 
vided, and remember " there is no power in 



HINTS TO TYROS. 107 

Venice can alter a decree established." Flay 
the right game always — couU qui couie — and 
insist on the strict play of the game by your 
opponents, for no option in playing, at vari- 
ance with prescribed precepts, can be tolera- 
ted; and, if your partner commits an error, 
require the other side to avail themselves of 
the advantage attained by it — for the mistake 
of one party is the game of the other, fairly. 
Eschew especially every circumstance and 
act that has a tendency to produce confusion 
or misunderstanding in play. 

Acquire the habit — it is easily accomplished 
— of determining whether you pass, or order 
up, without unnecessary suspense, and " hesi- 
tate not to say." Promptness and a quick re- 
sponse — "when 'tis done, then 'twere well it 
were done quickly" — should be part and par- 
cel of the play ; it is better to decide wrongly 
a few times than mislead your partner by 
hesitation. Nothing can be more irksome 
than to see a player — especially if one's part- 
ner — boggling over his cards, hesitating and 
undecided what to do. Such indecision, be^ 



108 EUCHRE. 

sides, betrays your hand. Holding but five 
cards, a glance at them, simply, enables a 
quick judgment to declare whether he will 
pass, or not. " Speak quick — it is the strength 
of the game," is the favorite ejaculation of a 
favorite friend of ours. 

Never exhibit peevishness and ill-temper — 
reserve it for home-consumption — when you 
lose, nor too great elation of joy when you 
win; nor permit the calm expression of your 
face to be ruffled by the appearance of your 
hand; and bear all reverses with Christian 
fortitude and Jewish resignation. 

So, if your hand — we mean the cards you 
hold, gentle tyro — should happen to be as red 
as the saints' days in a Eomish calendar, or 
as black as the concentrated essence of mid- 
night, when the opposite colors are trumps, 
pursue the even tenor of your play, witli 
placid demeanor — with columbine innocence 
and serpentine wisdom — and " publish it not" 
with impatient demonstrations, or vituperative 
expressions against ill-luck ; for cards, at 
times, will obstinately run as chance directs. 



HINTS TO TYROS. 109 

" 'Tis not in mortals to command success," you 
know — if you do not, it is time you did, you 
understand. 

" O there be players, that I have seen play," 
who grumble and fault-find as much over the 
card-table, as they would chaffering and cavil- 
ling in a market-house with a huckster ! — as 
if cards were not invented for recreation and 
amusement — " very reverend sport truly." 

Should your partner make an occasional 
misplay, take it kindly, and avoid, by all 
means, that horrid practice of fault-finding 
and censure — every one, you know, except 
ourselves, commits blunders, and mistakes 
are inevitable. 

Should you be eminently successful in win- 
ning from your adversaries, don't twit them 
too often and persistently with their defeat, 
but enjoy it secretly and quietly as we enjoy 
love and poetry, for "modesty," says the re- 
nowned Munchausen, u forbids individuals to 
arrogate to themselves great successes or vic- 
tories." 

It may hap — once in a while — that you 



110 EUCHEE. 

will find yourself associated with a partner, 
who is a novice in the philosophy and myste- 
ries of our noble game, and when you "do 
begin to perceive" that he is one of those un- 
fortunate individuals of neglected erudition, 
whose intense ignorance of the play is dis- 
heartening — displaying the most marvellous 
ingenuity in preventing you from winning, 
and a cruelly tantalizing facility in helping 
your opponents to defeat you — smile, if you 
can ; — we always do. " llluc Ionicus." 

In such a case, if no other kind of amuse- 
ment can be resorted to, suggest refreshment, 
you will find it a great relief; and, besides, 
some one may then offer -to take your place at 
the card-table, or your partner "for worse" 
may obtain some more suitable employment. 

Never give in and grow faint-hearted — hard 
as it sometimes is to lose when near winning 
— but console yourself with the comfortable 
reflection that while the combat continues 
victory is uncertain. 

Although, at this game, the advantage 
rather depends on skillful combinations, and 



HINTS TO TYROS. Ill 

a quick calculation of chances at the various 
periods of play, than on high cards, yet the 
most unskillful novice at the game may fre- 
quently hold such commanding cards during 
an entire seance that he must necessarily win 
all the tricks, even from experienced experts, 
for Bowers will defeat Aces, and Aces will 
capture Kings. Avoid too much elation at a 
run of luck, for, " the hood-wink'd goddess 1 ' 
must succumb to persistent skill : moreover, 
you will soon find but little excitement in 
like easy skirmishes. But, when cards do 
range out equally and high on either side in 
groups of threatening and overwhelming 
strength, good scuffling hands, — " I love a hand 
that meets mine own," — affording fine scope 
for combinations of chance and skill, arousing 
the accomplished adept's valor to the strife for 
victory, " then comes the tug of war." We 
have known players when holding such hands 
to play a series of several hundred games, 
without making a single error in play, 01 
failing to win every trick on the cards 
11 Think of that Master Brooks," and be emu- 
lous. 



112 EUCHRE. 

Always consult the score of the game, 
playing accordingly, and remember that the 
policy of your antagonists is at variance with 
your own. Never let your face betray your 
hand. An air of coldness, and impassibility 
of feature, are indispensable qualities in play. 

There are many other circumstances of 
play which we might assume to hint at that 
cannot well be demonstrated by rules; but 
deference to the opinions of others — older, if 
not better soldiers, — your knowledge of the 
refined observances and established usages of 
society, and a certain natural tact, will guide 
and counsel you, we fancy, better than any 
suggestions of ours. Skill, of course, is only 
acquired by practice. 

Once more we earnestly recommend, nay 
beseech you, to give no indications by ges- 
ture or expression of the strength or weak- 
ness of your cards, but preserve a stoical 
placidity of countenance, eschewing in every 
manner all species of unfairness; and we 
hope it may be our fortune, " oft in the stilly 
night," to meet you in friendly conflict on the 
" velvet plain." 



HINTS TO TYROS. 113 

In the meantime let us return to our mut- 
tons ; for, if we have a fault, it is digression. 

After the ceremony of the deal has been 
concluded, it is the duty of the eldest-hand to 
order up the trump card or pass. He should 
always order it up at a Bridge, — when not 
sure of a trick, — as before explained ; he 
should also, of course, (when sure of one 
trick and has passed accordingly,) make the 
trump, if the dealer turns it down, and for 
the same reason that he would order up at 
the Bridge. At any other stage of the game 
he must hold a very strong hand in trumps 
to order up. The Left-Bower, Ace, and ten 
of trumps, with an Ace of a lay suit, or two 
commanding cards of a lay suit, as a general 
rule, would be sufficiently strong ; or the Ace, 
King, ten, and seven of trumps — especially 
if the fifth card in his hand is a high one. 
The eldest-hand, when strong at the suit turned 
for trumps, and also strong at the next in 
suit — in utrumque paratus — should always 
pass to Euchre the other side if the trump is 
adopted ; for, if it should be turned down he 
7 



114 EUCHHK. 

can then make the trump. As a general rule 
he should always pass for a Euchre when as 
strong at the next in suit. 

Never order up with the two Bowers and 
the Ace, or other high trump, if you have 
two cards, even so low as the seven and eight 
of the same color of the trump, because, if 
the adversaries adopt the trump you are sure 
to Euchre them, and if it is turned down you 
have a lone hand at next in suit. 

With the Right-Bower, Ace, and seven of 
trumps, with a secondary card at the next in 
suit, it is safe to pass, for you will probably 
Euchre the hostile side, if the trump is 
adopted, and you are almost sure of the odd 
trick at the next suit, if the trump is turned 
down. 

Next In Suit, or Dutching, is deemed by 
many eminent professors of the game one of 
the most important elements of play ; the 
principles upon which this rule is founded 
we will here essay to explain. The pack is 
composed of just thirty- two cards, of which 
number twenty-one are thrown round by the 



HINTS TO TYROS. 115 

dealer for the play of each hand, leaving 
eleven cards, say one-third of the entire pack, 
in the talon. When the dealer and his part- 
ner decline to play at the suit turned for 
trumps, it is fair to presume that neither of 
them holds a Bower — especially if the turn- 
up is a court-card. The chances are greatly 
in favor of the presumption that one of the 
Bowers has been distributed in the deal, and 
nearly equal that both of them are out. The 
probability then is that one, if not both of 
them, are in your partner's hand, yourself 
having neither. And if the Bowers are not 
out, it is raison de plus why you may win the 
odd trick with fewer and weaker cards than 
in an ordinary hand. Your partner, if a 
skillful player, will never order up when 
holding both Bowers only, but will pass for 
the Euchre, if the trump is adopted, or for 
next in suit, if turned down — for "so he 
plays his part." We have known instances 
when the eldest-hand's partner has played and 
made a lone hand at next; in suit, when the 
eldest-hand has made the trump, according to 



116 EUCHRE. 

rule, without having a single trump in hand 
At all events the chances are much in favor 
of making the trump next in suit, and favor- 
ble chances should always be embraced. 
"Have a care o' th' main chance." When 
you follow this rule, always lead a trump, 
unless you have the tenace of Right-Bower and 
Aee, and you should lead the Bower then if 
you hold commanding lay cards. It is some- 
times asserted that if this rule is strictly ad- 
hered to the dealer may often win a Euchre 
by a ruse, in turning down when equally 
strong at each suit of the color; but in the 
event of his being strong at both suits, (the 
exception to the rule ; crossing the suit,) may 
be in your hand. It is a bad rule, we are 
told, that works only one way, and Exceptio 
probat regulam, you know. 

The eldest-hand opens the game, and as 
success frequently depends upon the lead — 
c'est le premier pas qui collie — he must bear that 
fact in mind, and deploy his small force into 
action skillfully, with decision. 

It is a rule with many experienced players to 
lead through the assisting hand, that is, when 



HINTS TO TYROS. - 117 

the dealer's partner assists, the eldest-hand is 
always expected to lead a trump, if he has one, 
in every case, except when a Bower is turned 
up, or you have the Left-Bower guarded. 
The exceptions to this rule, we think, are so 
multitudinous that the practice is almost as 
much "honored in the .breach as the obser- 
vance." The rationale of the rule is founded 
on the supposition that the player who assists 
may hold but two trumps, and by leading a 
trump, his trumps and his partner's are 
brought together, and if you or your partner 
have commanding cards in lay suits you may 
make a Euchre. And, moreover, if your 
partner holds two trumps, by leading through 
the strong hand up to the weak — the dealer's 
partner, assisting, is supposed to be in that 
position — you give your partner an opportu- 
nity to finesse. These are the only advan- 
tages we now revive in memory. If the 
eldest-hand holds one or two trumps, — espe- 
cially if small, — with commanding cards in 
other suits, the trump should then most as- 
suredly be led. 



118 EUCHRE. 

Should he hold three trumps of various 
value and two lay cards of suit, — the seven 
and Queen for instance — and is playing to 
Euchre the dealer, he should always lead. the 
lay seven, for when he wins the rentree with 
one of his small trumps, the Queen will then 
either win the trick or force a trump from 
the opponents. If the eldest-hand's partner 
should win the first or the second trick he 
should never return such a lead, because the 
eldest-hand, if he comprehends his vocation, 
will never commence the round with an iso- 
lated plebeian card, unless for some excep- 
tional cause. 

With two trumps, two lay cards of suit, 
and one single lay card, commence with one 
of the two lay cards, for one of your trumps 
may bring you back to your suit, and your 
second lay card will then probably force the 
other side to trump. Never open with the 
single lay card when holding such a hand, be- 
cause you may have an opportunity of throw- 
ing it away on a trick of your partner's, or, 
when second player, on a lead of a numerical 



HINTS TO TYEOS. 119 

card of the suit of which you have none, which 
will enable you to ruff its suit, if led by either 
of your adversaries, and win you a trick. 

When playing to Euchre, if you have two 
or more small trumps with commanding lay 
cards, lead a small trump as it may enable 
you to make the high cards when trumps are 
expended. 

When your partner orders up, or makes 
the trump, always lead him one — the best you 
have — without regard to tenace or Left-Bower 
guarded. 

When, being eldest-hand, you are scoring 
three points to your game, and your adversa- 
ries count one, or nothing, and you hold very 
weak and sickly looking cards, although this 
is not a Bridge, yet it is often well to order 
up and take a Euchre — especially if a Bower 
is turned up— rather than risk a lone hand to 
the other side ; and if you are Euchred, you 
are Euchred — que sara sara, as we used to say 
at Florence. Santissima madonna, those days 
are passed ! 

If you hold a lay Ace, when opposed to a 



120 EUCHRE. 

lone hand, always lead it, for if you hold a 
King or Queen doubled, you have an addi- 
tional chance to prevent the march of the lone 
player. 

That condition of the game in the flood tide 
of luck, termed the Bridge, is fully explained 
at the close of Chapter III, to which we re- 
spectfully beg leave to refer. When it carries 
you safely over, praise it. And thus much for 
your duty as eldest-hand, and we, like Eng- 
land, expect every man to do his duty. 

Your performance, as second player, — when 
" the game's afoot," and the eldest-hand has 
given you " a taste of his quality," — is much 
more circumscribed and simple, consisting 
mainly in following the suit led, or in ruff- 
ing it; and this easy duty and irresponsible 
continues through each of the five rounds in 
which you have to play second-fiddle. 

When confident of winning two tricks al- 
ways assist and rely on your partner to win 
one trick. 

The second player (the dealer's partner as 
they sit at the table) must remember, however, 



HINTS TO TYROS. 121 

that when the trurap card has been turned 
down by the dealer, and the eldest-hand has 
passed the making, it is his duty — though not 
quite so imperatively on him as it is on the 
eldest-hand to make the next in suit — to cross 
the suit, that is, to make the trump either of 
the black suits, (the one in which he is the 
stronger, of course,) when a red suit has been 
turned down, and vice versa, and for nearly the 
same reasons, just given to the eldest-hand for 
making next in suit. 

As second player rarely ruff a numerical 
lay card the first time round, as the chances 
are even that your partner may win the trick. 
Throw away any single lay card of less value 
than an Ace, if you have one or two small 
trumps, on such a lead, which will enable you 
to ruff its suit when led. Also underplay a 
numerical trump, risking the chance of your 
partner winning it. We have an acquired 
antipathy to a single lay card and love to dis- 
pose of its bachelor-like wretchedness by em- 
embracing the first opportunity. 

So often as the lead changes the relative po- 



122 EUCHRE. 

sitions of the players — as the leader, second, 
third, and fourth player — also vary, of course. 

Second player following suit to lay cards, 
as a general rule, should always head, that is 
win the trick, if he can. The same, with few 
exceptions, when playing trumps. 

With one trump only, if the Eight-Bower 
himself single, and your partner adopts or 
makes the trump, ruff with it the first chance. 

When you can neither follow suit nor trump, 
throw away the weakest card you have, natu- 
rally. 

In the situation of third player your " offi- 
cious duties" become more onerous. When 
playing to win a Euchre, if you hold a small and 
a medium card, at trumps, and have the oppor- 
tunity to ruff, stick in the medium trump, if 
third player, which may force the dealer to play 
his best trump. Never send a boy, you know, 
on a man's errand. And this, by-the-by, re- 
minds us of a pretty problem in play. Sup- 
pose yourself sitting on the right hand of the 
dealer who has turned the Knave of spades, 
and adopted the trump. Two rounds have 



HINTS TO TYROS. 123 

been played — the first trick having been won 
by your opponents, and the second by your 
partner. Your partner leads in a lay suit 
and is followed by the second player, and you 
hold the Left-Bower, Ace, and Queen of 
trumps, you play either the Left-Bower, or 
Ace, and the dealer holds the Eight-Bower, 
King, and ten of trumps. If the dealer takes 
the trick with the Eight-Bower, which he 
would naturally be inclined to do, he is 
Euchred, because you then have the tenace. 
But, on the contrary, if he should play the 
ten of trumps and let you win the trick, he 
gains the odd-trick, as by this underplay he 
secures the tenace to himself. If you had 
played the Queen — which would have been a 
horrid play — you would, of course, have lost 
the odd-trick. This simple problem is deemed 
worthy of especial commendation, as illustra- 
tive of the peculiar advantage of the tenace. 

You should be very strong in trumps to 
order up, because your partner, passing, shows 
that he is weak, or prefers to make the next 
in suit. As a general rule let the responsi- 



124 EUCHRE. 

bility of ordering up rest with your partner 
when he is eldest-hand. 

When your partner has adopted or made 
the trump, be careful not to win the lead from 
him, unless you are strong enough to play for 
a march, or to win the odd trick. 

Always divest your hand of losing cards, 
when possible, to your partner's winning ones. 

If your partner in the third or fourth round 
leads a lay King (you having none of its suit) 
which is not captured by your right-hand ad- 
versary, and you have a lay King of different 
suit, with trumps, throw it away on your part- 
ner's lead, for his King having passed safely 
through one hand is much more likely to win 
than yours would be, having to pass through 
both hands. Trust it through one hand rather 
than two is the rule. Play in like manner in 
like cases, you understand. 

Opportunities to finesse occur but rarely, 
and when they are offered should be exercised 
with considerable caution. It is much better 
for the third player to win the trick than risk 
its loss by any delicate stratagem of play. 



HINTS TO TYROS. 125 

The vocation of the dealer is replete with 
interest. He should commence by distribu- 
ting the cards with exactness, not allowing 
any card to be exposed, except the one 
turned for the trump, or his antagonists may 
declare the deal null, and he will have to per- 
form it afresh. He should always discard a 
single card, though above medium value, and 
retain two of suit, if one of them is not 
higher than a nine. When he determines to 
Play Alone with three trumps, he should 
always discard even so high a card as a King 
of a lay suit when the only card of the suit, 
and retain the seven, or any other card, of a 
suit of which he holds the Ace, for the 
chances are much better that the Ace will 
exhaust the suit and let the seven win, than 
that the King would win the first time round. 

If his partner, assisting, has played one 
trump, the dealer winning a trick should 
never lead him a trump, unless he is sure of 
winning the march, or the odd trick, with his 
own hand; for the probability is that his 
partner has assisted with two trumps only, 



126 EUCHRE. 

and by leading a trump to him he may draw 
the last he holds, and in that way entirely 
destroy his game. This is a fatal mistake 
but often made by inexperienced players, and 
is conspicuously improper, as you see. But 
if your partner assists, and your side have 
captured the first two or three rounds, leav- 
ing you with commanding trumps and sure 
lay cards, win the lead from him then and 
secure the march, for he might be left to lead 
a losing card not of your sure suit . 

Always when assisted, Mr. Dealer, and 
you hold the card next higher or lower 
to the trump card, play it instead of the 
trump card for your partner's benefit. — 
Thus, if you turn up a King, and also have 
the Ace in hand, and your partner assists, 
when a trump is led, or you can ruff a suit, 
you should play the Ace, which shows your 
partner that you have the King left. 

Having a sequence of three trumps of 
which the turn-up card is the smallest, and 
your partner assists, play the highest, which 
informs him that you. have two more trumps 



HINTS TO TYROS, 127 

of equal value. As in case tte Queen is 
turned up, and his partner assists, if the 
dealer holds the King and Ace, making a 
sequence of three trumps, when the trump 
is led, or he can ruff, he should play the Ace, 
which makes his partner understand that he 
holds the King also. The same in all similar 
cases. 

So, also, if a sequence of three or four 
cards in play shows all the cards above the 
turn-up card, and your hand continues the 
sequence, play the highest card for your part- 
ner's benefit. Par example: The nine of 
hearts is turned for trump, and the ten, Queen 
and Ace, of hearts, are played to a trick ; if 
you hold the King of trumps play it, because 
your nine is as good as your King, and by 
playing the King your partner knows that 
you have certainly one trump in hand, and 
moreover, that it requires one of the Bowers 
to win it. 

But if your opponents have ordered up 
the trump and you hold a similar hand, it is 
obvious — on the principle of contrariwise, 



128 EUCHRE. 

otherwise— that you should play " quite the 
diverse/ 7 to balk them, as you clearly per- 
ceive. 

Eetain the trump card, when your side 
have adopted it, as long as possible, to benefit 
your partner; and, on the contrary, dispose 
of it the first opportunity, to put your adver- 
saries in doubt, when it has been ordered up. 

A few more illustrative hints — to each and 
every player, in a general way — we hope may 
be taken, as we offer them, in the very spirit 
of kindness. 

Always play to benefit your partner — in 
every possible way you can with fairness and 
good order — and to balk your antagonists 
by masking your hand, for in Euchre, as in 
Love and in War, all manoeuvres are admissi- 
ble. 

Three trumps, if medium ones only, are 
sufficient to take up the trump, or to assist 
your partner, or, ordinarily, to make the 
trump suit. If you hold Knaves, and com- 
manding cards of two or more suits, it often 
proves successful to pass both the adoption 



HINTS TO TYKOS. 129 

and the making, to Euchre your adversaries 
if they adopt or make it. Especially if the 
other side dealt, for if they pass also you 
gain the deal. 

Always lead a trump to your partner — 
if eldest-hand, or you have won the rentree — - 
when he adopts or makes the trump — except 
when he assists and has played one trump — 
especially if you should hold either of the 
Bowers only. 

When last player and the trick, in a lay 
suit, if the first or second round, is your part- 
ner's, and you hold a single lay card, and one 
or more trumps, throw away that single card, 
if so high as a King even, on your partner's 
trick, for if he holds a card in that suit he 
will of course lead it, which may enable you 
to win the trick with a trump. 

When your side, having adopted, or made 
the trump, have lost one trick, you must then 
play cautiously to prevent being Euchred, for 
the risk you might venture when playing to 
make a march would be quite improper when 
you have lost one trick. 
8 



130 EUCHRE. 

Having lost the first two tricks a ad won 
the third, if you have one trump left, lead it 
— either to make or to save a Euchre — for 
if your adversaries have a trump larger than 
yours they must win the odd trick ; and, if it 
is smaller, you may exhaust them and win 
the fifth trick with your lay card. The only 
exception to this rule is when you have as- 
sisted — or your partner has taken it up — and 
your partner still retains the trump card ; and, 
if your trump is higher than your partner's, 
and you have a winning card for the fifth 
round, you should lead the trump then. 

Holding a sequence of trumps, and playing 
to Euchre the adversaries, always play the 
highest to balk them ; for instance, if you hold 
Ace, King, and Queen of trumps, and a Bower 
is led, play the Ace. 

When holding the Left-Bower and one other 
trump, the Left-Bower guarded as it is termed, 
be cautious how you separate them, for if the 
Eight-Bower should be led, by playing your 
smaller trump to it you are sure to win with 
the Left-Bower. 



HINTS TO TYROS. 131 

When you hold the Left-Bower alone 
whether you are playing to your partner's 
adoption or make of the trump, or to Euchre 
your opponents, ruff with it as soon as you 
have the chance, at any stage or condition of 
the play — otherwise it may fall to the Eight- 
Bower, when the trump is led. Make the 
Bight-Bower in the same manner, if your only 
trump, when your partner assists or makes the 
trump, for when he wins the rentree he would 
almost certainly lead his highest trump, and 
your Bower, winning it, might sadly injure 
his game. 

In adopting or making the trump you may 
always rely on your partner to win one of the 
five tricks. 

It is a rule in play that a lay Queen never 
wins a trick. This is not strictly correct, but 
near enough to the truth to be adopted as a 
general rule. 

Keep your mind on the cards, as we for- 
tune-tellers say, and remember how the suits 
fall in play, so as not to be trumping with a 
seven or eight a commanding lay card of your 



182 EUCHRE. 

partner's — a sottise, by the way, not unfre- 
quently committed. 

Be cautious how you adopt or make the 
trump when the hostile side are scoring three 
points ; for, if you are Euchred, you put them 
out, and, in another sense of the expression, 
you may put out your partner too, which 
would be grievous. 

Opponent to a Lone Player, and holding the 
seven and nine of one suit, with single cards 
in each of the other suits — if Queens even — 
never separate the two of suit although there 
is a single chance only that one of them may 
win. You will be surprised, and delighted 
too — we assure you, you will — to see how of- 
ten the nine in such cases prevents the march 
of the Lone Player, and ruffles his equanimity. 
We always rely more confidently on a Knave 
and seven of a lay suit, in such case, than on a 
lay King single. 

We believe we have annunciated this doc- 
trine before ; but, excuse us, for truth cannot 
be too oft asserted. 

These leading principles in the practice of 



HINTS TO TYROS. 133 

the game should always be retained in mind, 
though combinations of cards in the various 
distributions into hands — like the myrioramic 
changes of the Kaleidoscope — may diversify 
the manner of the play almost a V infini. When 
such peculiar idiosyncrasies require your at- 
tention they should be treated — according to 
Gunter. 

It is quite unnecessary to offer any obser- 
vations on that branch of the doctrine of 
chances which might apply to our game, — or 
to point out that the dealer's chance of turning 
up a Knave is seven to one against him ; or 
why, when you adopt or make the trump the 
chances are in favor of your partner's winning 
one trick, — for it is obvious that games, con- 
tingent upon chance and combination, cannot 
be reduced to the exactness of the propositions 
of Euclid and be made to conform to a u rigid 
and infallible geometry." Besides, the " cer- 
tainties of chances" we do not affect to com- 
prehend, but only "have a care o' th 7 main 
chance." Yet, to gratify a curiosity that 
might crave such enlightenment, and simply 



134 EUCHRE. 

alluding to the ramifications of chances which 
enter into the play, we will mention that there 
are 4,591 chances to 1 against holding the 
Jamboree ; that it is 27 to 5 against holding 
the Eight-Bower, or any one particular, 
certain card; and that 201,876 separate and 
different hands — like the stripes on a zebra's 
back, no two alike — may be held in this 
pleasant game. 

"In this journey through life, should dame Fortune's 

dark frown 
Upon you be cast, let it ne'er weigh you down ; 
Should friends fail to 'assist' and 'pass* heedlessly by, 
And you should Euchred be — why still never say die." 

" And so may you ever, while playing life's game, 
Have the Queen and the King and the Ace of the same ; 
Encircled with Diamonds, with Hearts, and with 

Bowers, 
Enjoying the perfume of love's happy hours.' ' 



RULES FOR PLAYING DRAW POKER, 



THE DEAL AND DEALING OF THE CARDS. 

The deal is of no special value, and any- 
body may begin. 

The dealer, beginning with the person at 
his left, throws around five cards to each 
player, giving one card at a time. 

The dealer shuffles and makes up the pack 
himself, or it may be done by the player at 
his left, and the player at his right must cut, 

To begin the pool, the player next to the 
dealer on his left must put up money, which 
is called an " ante," and then, in succession, 
each player, passing around to the left, must, 
after looking at his hand, determine if he goes 
in or not ; and each person deciding to play for 
the pool must put in twice the amount of the 
ante. Those who decline to play throw up 
their cards, face downward, on the table, and 
per consequence, in front of the next dealer. 

(135) 



136 RULES FOR PLAYING DRAW POKER. 

When all who wish to play have gone in, 
the person putting up the ante can either give 
up all interest in the pool, thus forfeiting the 
ante which has been put up, or else can play- 
like the others who have gone in by " making 
good," that is, putting up in addition to the 
ante as much more as will make him equal in 
stake to the rest. 

If a number of players have gone in, it is 
best generally for the ante man to make good, 
and go in, even with a poor hand, because half 
his stake is already up, and he can therefore 
stay in for half as much as the others have 
had to put up, which is a percentage in favor 
of his taking the risk. This, of course, does 
not apply if any one has " raised," that is, 
more than doubled the ante before it comes 
around to the starting point. 

Any one at the time of going in must put 
up as much as double the ante, and may put 
up as much more as he pleases by way of 
" raising " the ante, in which case every other 
player must put up as much as will make his 
stake equal to such increase, or else abandon 
what he has already put in. 



RULES FOR PLAYING DRAW POKER. 137 

Each player, as he makes good and equals 
the others who are in before him, can thus 
increase the ante if he chooses, compelling the 
others still to come up to that increase or to 
abandon their share in the pool. 

All " going in" or "raising" of the pool, 
as well as all betting afterward, must be in 
regular order, going round by the left ; no one 
going in, making good, increasing the ante, or 
betting, except in turn. 

When all are in equally who intend to play, 
each player in turn will have the privilege of 
drawing ; that is, of throwing away any num- 
ber of his five cards and drawing as many 
others, to try thus to better his hand. The 
cards thus thrown up must be placed face 
downwards on the table, and, for convenience, 
in front of or near the next dealer. 

The dealer, passing around to the left, will 
ask each player in turn how many cards he will 
have, and deal him the number asked for from 
the top of the pack without their being seen. 
The dealer, if he has gone in to play for the 
pool, will, in like manner, help himself last. 

The players must throw away their dis- 



138 RULES FOE PLAYIXG DRAW POKER, 

carded cards before taking up or looking at 
those they dr; 

EVERY PLAYER FOR HLMSELF. 

In the game every player is for himself 
and against all others, and to that end will not 
let any of his cards be seen, nor betray the 
value of his hand bv drawing or plavine out 
of his turn, or by change of countenance, or 
any other sign. It is a great object to mys- 
tify your adversaries up to the u call," when 
hands have to be shown. To this end it is 
mitted to chad' 1 or talk nonsense, with a 
view of misleading your adversaries as to the 
value of your hand, but this must be without 
unreasonably delaying the game. 

\Then the drawing is all complete, the bet- 
ting goes around in order, like the drawing, 
to the left. The ante man is the first to bet 
unless he has dec-lined to play, and in that case 
the first to bet is the player nearest to t 
dealer on his left. But the player entitled to 
bet first may withhold his bet until the otl. 
have bet round to him, which is called "hold- 
ing the r_v." and this being an advantag 
ild, as a general rule, be practised. 



RULES FOR PLAYING DRAW POKER. 139 

Each better, in turn, must put into the pool 
a sum equal at least to the first bet made; but 
each may in turn increase the bet or raise it as 
it comes to him ; in which case, the bets, pro- 
ceeding around in order, must be made by- 
each player in his turn equal to the highest 
amount put in by any one, or else failing to 
do that, the party who fails must go out of the 
play, forfeiting his interest in the pool. 

When a player puts in only as much as has 
been put in by each player who has preceded 
him, that is called " seeing " the bet. 

When a player puts in that much, and 
raises it, that is called seeing the bet and 
" going better." 

When the bet goes around to the last better 
or player who remains in, if he does not wish 
to see and go better, he simply sees and 
" calls," and then all playing must show their 
hands, and the highest hand wins the pool. 

When any one declines to see the bet, or the 
increase of bet which has been made, he " lays 
down ;; his hand, that is, throws it up with the 
cards face downward on the table. If all the 
other players throw clown their hands, the one 



140 RULES FOR PLAYING DRAW POKEE. 

who remains in to the last wins, and takes th \ 
pool without showing his hand. 

To "bluff" is to take the risk of betting 
high enough on a poor hand or a worthless 
one, to make all the other players lay down 
their hands without seeing or calling you. 

When a hand is complete, so that the holder 
of it can play without drawing to better it, 
that is called a " pat " hand. A bold player 
will sometimes decline to draw any cards, and 
pretend to have a pat hand, and play it as 
such, when he has none. 

A skilful player will watch and observe 
what each player draws, the expression of the 
face, the circumstances and manner of betting, 
and judge, or try to judge, of the value of 
each hand opposed to him accordingly. 

No one is bound to answer the question 
how many cards he drew, except the dealer ; 
and the dealer is not bound to tell after the 
betting has begun. 

DRAWING OF CARDS. 

If the player determines to draw to a pair, 
he draws three cards. If he draws to two 
pair, he draws one card. 



RULES FOR PLAYING DRAW POKER. 141 

If he holds three to begin with, he draws 
two cards, in order to have the best chance 
of making a full, inasmuch as, in playing, 
pairs are apt to run together. But to deceive 
his adversaries and make them think he has 
nothing better than two pairs, a sharp player 
will often draw but one card to his threes. 

It is advisable sometimes to keep an ace, 
or other high card, as an " outsider " with a 
small pair and draw but eja4 card-£-thus tak- * 
ing the chances of matching the high cards, 
and so getting a good two pairs, or something 
better, possibly — while at the same time others 
may be deceived into believing that the player 
is drawing to threes. 

When drawing to cards of the same suit, to 
try to make a flush, or to cards of successive 
denominations, to try to make a sequence, as 
many more cards are to be taken as will be 
needed to fill out the flush or the sequence. But 
it is seldom advisable to venture in to draw 
for either a flush or a sequence when more 
than one card is required to complete the hand. 

When a player holds fours in his original 
hand, it is as good as it can be ; and yet it is 



142 RULES FOR PLAYING DRAW POKER. 

best to throw away the outside card and draw 
one, because others may then think he is only 
drawing to two pairs, or for a flush or a 
sequence, and will not suspect the great value 
of the hand. 

When one is in (as he ought seldom to be) 
without even so much as a pair, his choice 
must be, either to discard four cards, or three 
cards, and draw to the highest or two highest 
in the hand, or throw away the whole hand 
and draw five, or look content and serious; 
stand, pat, and bet high ! 

The player, determining to try this last 
alternative on a worthless hand, had generally 
better begin by raising when he goes in, or 
else nobody will be likely to believe in his 
pretended strong hand. 

RELATIVE VALUE OF HANDS IN THEIR 
ORDER, BEGINNING WITH THE BEST. 

1. A Sequence Flush — Which is a sequence 
of five cards, and all of the same suit. 

2. Fours — Which is four of the five cards 
of the same denomination. 

3. A Full — Which is a hand consisting of 



RULES FOE PLAYING DRAW POKER. 143 

three cards of the same denomination and two 
of likewise equal denomination. 

4. A Flush — Which is all five cards of the 
same suit. 

5. A Sequence* — Which is all five cards 
not of the same suit but all in sequence. [In 
computing the value of a sequence, an ace 
counts either as the highest or lowest card, 
that is, below a deuce or above a king.] 

6. Threes — Which is three cards of the 
same denomination, but the other two of dif- 
ferent denominations from each other. 

7. Two pairs. 

8. One pair. 

9. When a hand has neither of the above, 
the count is by the cards of highest value or 
denomination. 

When parties, opposed, each holds a pair, 
the highest pair wins, and the same when 
each party holds threes or fours. 

When each party holds two pairs, the 

* Many experts rate threes in relative value above a 
sequence, but the better opinion is that a sequence should 
rank first, as being in itself one of the complete hands. 



144 RULES FOR PLAYING DRAW POKER. 

highest pair of the two determines the relative 
value of the hands. 

When each party holds a sequence, the 
hand commencing with the highest card in 
sequence wins; so also when two or more 
parties hold flushes against each other. 

That "full" counts highest of which the 
three cards of the same denomination are high- 
est. The two cards of the same denomination 
help only to constitute the full, but do not 
add to the value of the hand. 

When hands are equal so far that each 
party holds a pair, or two pairs, of exactly 
the same value, then the next highest card or 
cards in each hand, must be compared with 
the next highest card or cards in the other 
hand, to determine which wins. 

In case of the highest hands (which very 
seldom occurs) being exactly equal the pool is 
divided. 

The main elements of success in the game 
are: (1) good luck; (2) good cards; (3) plenty 
of cheek ; and (4) good temper. 



